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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. last — final
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. spring — a coil
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. bound — obliged
  11. content — happy
  12. spring — the season
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. bound — tied together
  17. bound — certain
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. last — finally
  22. spring — of water
  23. last — to go on
  24. mine — for digging

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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