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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. swing — in golf
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. swing — to play on
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. swing — music
  13. mine — for digging
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. chair — a leader
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. bat — the animal
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. content — happy
  24. snap — to click

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