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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. hand — help
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. spring — the season
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. row — a line
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — to paddle
  12. saw — the tool
  13. firm — a company
  14. object — an aim
  15. spring — a coil
  16. saw — the tool
  17. content — the amount
  18. firm — steady
  19. object — a thing
  20. object — to protest
  21. firm — decided
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. spring — of water

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