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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. content — the amount
  5. bat — the animal
  6. chest — of your body
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. content — happy
  9. current — of water
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. degree — temperature
  12. chest — a box
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. degree — an amount
  15. current — happening now
  16. kick — in football
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. current — electric
  19. degree — from a university
  20. game — a match
  21. game — wild animals
  22. chest — of your body
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. pound — a weight

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