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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. spring — the season
  4. tube — the underground
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. scale — size or range
  7. pound — a weight
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. tube — a container
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. scale — in music
  14. spring — a coil
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. content — happy
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. content — the amount
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. march — the month
  23. spring — of water
  24. march — music

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