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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wound — an injury
  3. bat — the animal
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. toast — bread
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. content — the amount
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. band — a ring
  14. wind — moving air
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. band — a music group
  18. snap — to click
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. content — happy
  21. wound — an injury
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. toast — a drink to someone
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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