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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. content — happy
  3. land — a country
  4. kid — to tease
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. land — ground
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. land — to come down
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. content — the amount
  16. mark — a grade
  17. chest — of your body
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. kid — child
  20. mark — a trace
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. ball — a dance
  24. ball — a round shape

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