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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 120 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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rash — a series
  3. bulb — for light
  4. net — in sport
  5. net — after costs
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — in cards
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. rash — hasty
  12. game — wild animals
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. content — the amount
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. kid — child
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. net — for catching
  22. bulb — for light
  23. game — a match
  24. kid — to tease

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