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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. season — of the year
  3. cold — not warm
  4. scale — size or range
  5. content — the amount
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. cold — an illness
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bank — for money
  11. rule — government
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. bank — for money
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. season — in sport
  17. bank — of a river
  18. rule — a law

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