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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 120 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. wax — to grow
  7. cell — in biology
  8. spring — of water
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. swing — music
  11. content — happy
  12. kid — to tease
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. game — wild animals
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. content — the amount
  20. swing — in golf
  21. swing — to play on
  22. game — a match
  23. kid — child
  24. spring — the season

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