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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. I'll be taking the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. content — happy
  4. last — to go on
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. last — final
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. content — the amount
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. tube — a container
  15. shower — rain
  16. mate — to breed
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. mate — a friend
  19. last — finally
  20. mate — a partner
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. shower — to wash
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. tube — the underground

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