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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: snap · spell · ruler · jam · hand · degree · content · mine

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. snap — to click
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. hand — help
  7. mine — for digging
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. degree — temperature
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. spell — magic
  13. spell — a short time
  14. spell — letters
  15. degree — from a university
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. hand — in cards
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. degree — an amount
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. content — the amount
  24. ruler — a monarch

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