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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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. ground — crushed
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. chest — of your body
  9. pop — to visit
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. ball — a great time
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chest — of your body
  14. tube — the underground
  15. cold — an illness
  16. tube — a container
  17. mine — for digging
  18. cold — not warm
  19. ground — a position
  20. content — happy
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. ball — a dance
  23. chest — a box
  24. content — the amount

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