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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. fork — in a road
  4. mate — a partner
  5. stock — shares
  6. spring — the season
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. content — happy
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. can — to be able to
  11. spring — a coil
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. content — the amount
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. mate — a friend
  16. can — a tin
  17. stock — goods
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. mate — to breed
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. can — a tin
  23. spring — of water
  24. straw — a straw man

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