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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. rush — hurry
  3. ground — the earth
  4. roll — a cake
  5. content — happy
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. ground — crushed
  8. roll — a list
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. band — a music group
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. swing — music
  13. swing — to play on
  14. ground — a position
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. sharp — clever
  17. band — a ring
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — a subject
  21. swing — in golf
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. rush — to hurry

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