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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. content — happy
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. date — the fruit
  6. dip — to sink
  7. spring — of water
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. spring — a coil
  10. spring — the season
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. spell — a short time
  14. ball — a great time
  15. saw — the tool
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. spell — magic
  18. saw — the tool
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. stem — to come from
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. content — the amount
  23. spell — letters
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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