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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. snap — to click
  4. band — a music group
  5. content — happy
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. shower — rain
  9. shower — to wash
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. scale — size or range
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. plane — a tool
  14. date — the fruit
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. scale — in music
  17. fork — in a road
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. band — a ring
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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