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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 124 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: pitcher · pop · march · content · ground · saw · cell · chest

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. ground — the earth
  4. content — happy
  5. chest — of your body
  6. content — the amount
  7. saw — the tool
  8. ground — a position
  9. march — music
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pop — to visit
  13. ground — crushed
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. march — the month
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pop — soda
  20. march — the month
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cell — in biology
  23. chest — a box
  24. cell — a phone

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