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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — an amount
  3. mug — a cup
  4. date — the fruit
  5. plane — a tool
  6. tear — from crying
  7. net — for catching
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. roll — a list
  12. tear — to rip
  13. net — in sport
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. mug — to rob
  16. net — after costs
  17. roll — a cake
  18. degree — from a university
  19. tear — from crying
  20. degree — temperature
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. mug — a face
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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