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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. shower — rain
  4. content — the amount
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. object — a thing
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — in biology
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cell — a phone
  12. object — to protest
  13. prune — to trim
  14. shower — to wash
  15. prune — to trim
  16. snap — to click
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. fine — all right
  20. fine — high quality
  21. object — an aim
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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