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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. mug — to rob
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. present — a gift
  7. pop — to visit
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. present — there
  10. pop — soda
  11. mug — a cup
  12. wake — a trail
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — wild animals
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. content — happy
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. pop — music
  20. game — a match
  21. mug — a face
  22. present — the time now
  23. cold — not warm
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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