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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. saw — the tool
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — for digging
  11. file — a tool
  12. spell — magic
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. row — to paddle
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. file — a document
  17. row — a line
  18. spell — letters
  19. spell — a short time
  20. chest — a box
  21. file — a line of people
  22. chest — of your body
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — happy

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