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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: bowl · tear · content · snap · spring · hand · perch · date

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. spring — a coil
  5. hand — in cards
  6. perch — the fish
  7. spring — the season
  8. content — happy
  9. tear — from crying
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. content — the amount
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. date — the fruit
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. snap — to click
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. tear — to rip
  22. tear — from crying
  23. spring — of water
  24. hand — help

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