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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. There's no middle ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. ground — a position
  3. chair — a leader
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. wax — to grow
  11. ground — crushed
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. content — happy
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. ground — the earth
  20. kid — child
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. kid — to tease
  24. straw — a straw man

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