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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 116 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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. cell — in biology
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. content — happy
  7. bound — certain
  8. bound — obliged
  9. cell — a phone
  10. bound — tied together
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. mouse — for a computer
  13. spring — a coil
  14. swing — music
  15. spring — of water
  16. content — the amount
  17. prune — to trim
  18. swing — to play on
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. prune — to trim
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. swing — in golf
  23. game — a match
  24. spring — the season

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