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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. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — for a computer
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. spring — a coil
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. content — happy
  7. content — the amount
  8. spring — the season
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. saw — the tool
  13. spring — of water
  14. pitch — completely
  15. scale — in music
  16. row — to paddle
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. saw — the tool
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. row — a line
  24. scale — size or range

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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