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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. content — happy
  4. date — the fruit
  5. content — the amount
  6. spring — the season
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. chair — a leader
  9. court — of a king
  10. spring — of water
  11. last — finally
  12. court — of law
  13. court — for sport
  14. bore — to tire
  15. bore — to drill
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. last — final
  22. degree — from a university
  23. last — to go on
  24. date — on the calendar

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