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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 120 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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. prune — to trim
  4. content — happy
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. shower — rain
  7. chest — a box
  8. net — for catching
  9. hand — help
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. net — after costs
  12. shower — to wash
  13. court — of a king
  14. hand — in cards
  15. content — the amount
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. prune — to trim
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. court — of law
  22. court — for sport
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. hand — part of the body

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