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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 120 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. kid — to tease
  3. bat — the animal
  4. row — a line
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. key — the most important part
  7. kid — child
  8. bulb — for light
  9. cell — a phone
  10. key — for a lock
  11. content — happy
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. key — in music
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. row — to paddle
  22. cell — in biology
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. bulb — of a plant

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