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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cell — a phone
  4. drill — a practice
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. wake — a trail
  9. mate — a partner
  10. content — happy
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. mate — a friend
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. chest — of your body
  16. mate — to breed
  17. chest — a box
  18. snap — to click
  19. kid — child
  20. drill — army training
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. drill — the tool
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. content — the amount

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