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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. bark — to shout
  6. rock — a stone
  7. court — of law
  8. spring — a coil
  9. rock — music
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. present — there
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. court — of a king
  14. court — for sport
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. present — the time now
  17. row — a line
  18. spring — of water
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. present — a gift
  23. row — to paddle
  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