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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. content — happy
  3. tear — to rip
  4. content — the amount
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. dip — to sink
  7. drill — a practice
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. cell — in biology
  10. drill — the tool
  11. march — the month
  12. court — of a king
  13. drill — army training
  14. tear — from crying
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cell — a phone
  17. prune — to trim
  18. march — music
  19. march — the month
  20. court — of law
  21. tear — from crying
  22. court — for sport
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. prune — to trim

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