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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. tube — a container
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. game — wild animals
  7. branch — a division
  8. date — the fruit
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. wax — to grow
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. game — a match
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. tube — the underground
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. stand — to bear
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. ruler — for measuring

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