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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. land — a country
  3. land — ground
  4. shower — rain
  5. ball — a great time
  6. spell — letters
  7. cue — for pool
  8. spell — a short time
  9. land — to come down
  10. shower — to wash
  11. chest — of your body
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. content — happy
  14. cue — a hint
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. chest — a box
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. cue — a signal
  22. ball — a dance
  23. content — the amount
  24. spell — magic

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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