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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · fan · row · content · nail · bass · court · chest

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. content — the amount
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. court — for sport
  5. content — happy
  6. bass — low music
  7. court — of law
  8. bass — the fish
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. tear — from crying
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. tear — to rip
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. chest — of your body
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. chest — a box
  21. tear — from crying
  22. row — a line
  23. row — to paddle
  24. nail — for a hammer

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