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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. bark — to shout
  6. mug — a face
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. mug — a cup
  11. squash — the sport
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. mug — to rob
  15. squash — to crush
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — help
  18. spell — a short time
  19. spell — magic
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. spell — letters
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. straw — dry grass

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