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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 120 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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. wax — to grow
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. pop — music
  6. pop — soda
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. chair — a leader
  9. can — to be able to
  10. content — happy
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. can — a tin
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. pop — to visit
  19. bark — to shout
  20. can — a tin
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. dip — to sink
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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