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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. squash — the sport
  4. scale — in music
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. hand — in cards
  8. date — the fruit
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. row — to paddle
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. content — happy
  14. hand — help
  15. squash — to crush
  16. content — the amount
  17. row — a line
  18. scale — size or range
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. band — a music group
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. band — a ring
  24. hand — part of the body

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