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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. dip — to sink
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. court — of a king
  5. court — for sport
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. perch — the fish
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. tube — a container
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. content — the amount
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wake — a trail
  23. tube — the underground
  24. court — of law

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