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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. root — of a word
  3. ground — a position
  4. root — of a plant
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. hand — in cards
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. squash — the sport
  10. ground — the earth
  11. content — the amount
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. tube — a container
  14. squash — to crush
  15. tube — the underground
  16. content — happy
  17. ground — crushed
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. root — the cause
  22. perch — the fish
  23. band — a ring
  24. band — a music group

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com