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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: fork · pop · tube · mug · perch · hand · content · court

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. He refilled his coffee ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. mug — to rob
  5. perch — the fish
  6. pop — music
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. court — of a king
  9. hand — help
  10. tube — a container
  11. mug — a face
  12. court — for sport
  13. pop — soda
  14. tube — the underground
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. hand — in cards
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. court — of law
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. content — the amount
  21. fork — in a road
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pop — to visit
  24. mug — a cup

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