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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 116 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. content — happy
  3. mug — a face
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. craft — boats
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. wind — moving air
  10. craft — a skill
  11. band — a ring
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. band — a music group
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. mug — a cup
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. content — the amount
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. mug — to rob
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bat — the animal

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