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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 116 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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. content — happy
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. rock — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. bound — tied together
  10. cold — an illness
  11. degree — an amount
  12. sharp — clever
  13. fork — in a road
  14. degree — temperature
  15. rock — a stone
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. prune — to trim
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. content — the amount
  20. degree — from a university
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bound — certain
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. prune — to trim

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