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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. content — happy
  5. tear — from crying
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. tear — from crying
  10. ground — the earth
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. sharp — clever
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. content — the amount
  20. tear — to rip
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ground — a position
  23. plane — a tool
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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