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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. net — after costs
  3. last — final
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. spring — the season
  6. spring — a coil
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. content — happy
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. net — for catching
  11. pop — soda
  12. spring — of water
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. dip — to sink
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. last — to go on
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. net — in sport
  19. pound — a weight
  20. last — finally
  21. content — the amount
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. pop — music

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