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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kid — child
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. kid — to tease
  5. bulb — for light
  6. bulb — for light
  7. key — the most important part
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. key — for a lock
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. chair — a leader
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. content — happy
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. cell — a phone
  18. content — the amount
  19. cell — in biology
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. key — in music
  23. date — the fruit
  24. content — videos and posts

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