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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. prune — to trim
  3. court — of law
  4. court — for sport
  5. prune — to trim
  6. snap — to click
  7. shower — to wash
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. last — to go on
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. court — of a king
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. last — final
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. shower — rain
  18. last — finally
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. bulb — for light
  21. content — the amount
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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