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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mate — a friend
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. net — after costs
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cell — a phone
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. key — the most important part
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. net — in sport
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. net — for catching
  16. mate — to breed
  17. mine — for digging
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cell — in biology
  21. content — the amount
  22. key — in music
  23. key — for a lock
  24. perch — the fish

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