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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 124 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. Where did you ________________ them?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — to rob
  2. content — the amount
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. tear — from crying
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. hand — help
  8. tear — from crying
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. content — happy
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. tear — to rip
  14. hand — in cards
  15. mug — a cup
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. bass — the fish
  18. mug — a face
  19. scale — size or range
  20. bass — low music
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. scale — in music
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. scale — for weighing

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