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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — for digging
  3. stock — goods
  4. craft — boats
  5. staff — employees
  6. stock — shares
  7. tube — the underground
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. spring — a coil
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. tube — a container
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. content — the amount
  15. staff — employees
  16. spring — the season
  17. staff — a stick
  18. spring — of water
  19. kick — in football
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. craft — a skill
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. content — videos and posts

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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