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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. club — for dancing
  8. content — happy
  9. hand — in cards
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. bat — the animal
  13. pop — to visit
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. club — for golf
  16. dip — to sink
  17. wake — a trail
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. club — a group
  20. pop — soda
  21. mine — for digging
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. pop — 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