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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. file — a line of people
  4. pop — music
  5. content — the amount
  6. kid — child
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. craft — a skill
  9. content — happy
  10. face — to confront
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. spell — a short time
  13. wound — an injury
  14. kid — to tease
  15. pop — to visit
  16. file — a document
  17. wound — an injury
  18. craft — boats
  19. file — a tool
  20. spell — magic
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. pop — soda
  23. spell — letters
  24. face — to point toward

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