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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. spring — of water
  3. date — the fruit
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. chest — of your body
  6. ground — the earth
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. fall — to drop
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. last — final
  11. last — to go on
  12. spring — a coil
  13. chest — a box
  14. fall — to drop
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. fall — the season
  17. snap — to click
  18. ground — a position
  19. last — finally
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. content — happy
  22. ground — crushed
  23. chest — of your body
  24. spring — the season

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