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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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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: content · rule · jam · degree · file · tear · snap · game

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. degree — from a university
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. game — wild animals
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. content — happy
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. degree — an amount
  13. tear — from crying
  14. game — a match
  15. jam — a tight spot
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rule — a law
  18. file — a document
  19. content — the amount
  20. snap — to click
  21. jam — to spread on bread
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. file — a line of people
  24. rule — government

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