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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. hand — help
  3. kid — to tease
  4. lean — to bend
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. ground — a position
  8. court — of law
  9. court — of a king
  10. lie — to recline
  11. ground — crushed
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — happy
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. lean — thin
  17. kid — child
  18. wind — moving air
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. wind — moving air
  22. hand — in cards
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. ground — the earth

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