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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. fall — to drop
  3. root — the cause
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. cell — in biology
  7. content — happy
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. file — a line of people
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. fall — the season
  12. root — of a plant
  13. spring — of water
  14. fall — to drop
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. spring — a coil
  17. root — of a word
  18. file — a tool
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. file — a document
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. date — the fruit
  24. spring — the season

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