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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. When will it ________________ you to start?
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. degree — an amount
  3. suit — in cards
  4. chest — of your body
  5. content — happy
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. cell — a phone
  8. chest — of your body
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. last — final
  11. degree — temperature
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. content — the amount
  14. suit — clothes
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. degree — from a university
  17. chest — a box
  18. suit — to fit
  19. last — to go on
  20. snap — to click
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cell — in biology
  24. last — finally

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