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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. row — a line
  3. mate — to breed
  4. content — happy
  5. chest — of your body
  6. shower — rain
  7. chest — a box
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. mate — a partner
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. chest — of your body
  13. row — to paddle
  14. rash — a series
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cap — a lid
  18. rash — hasty
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. snap — to click
  22. cap — of ice
  23. mate — a friend
  24. cap — a hat

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