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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. track — a song
  3. snap — to click
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. wound — an injury
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. rest — a break
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. track — to keep track
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. content — the amount
  17. wound — an injury
  18. scale — size or range
  19. rest — what's left
  20. scale — in music
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. prune — to trim
  23. track — a path
  24. rest — what's left

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