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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. kid — child
  3. ground — a position
  4. squash — to crush
  5. spring — the season
  6. kid — to tease
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wax — to grow
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. squash — the sport
  17. rush — hurry
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. ground — crushed
  20. content — the amount
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. spring — of water
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wax — in the ear

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