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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 116 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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. content — the amount
  3. prune — to trim
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. snap — to click
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. stock — shares
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. kid — to tease
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. hand — help
  14. stock — goods
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. content — happy
  18. prune — to trim
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. game — wild animals
  23. kid — child
  24. game — a match

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