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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. spell — magic
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. ground — a position
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. tube — a container
  8. content — happy
  9. march — the month
  10. ground — crushed
  11. spell — a short time
  12. row — a line
  13. spell — letters
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. tube — the underground
  16. ground — the earth
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. row — to paddle
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. march — music
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. march — the month
  24. row — a quarrel

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