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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 116 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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. lean — thin
  3. content — happy
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. cap — a hat
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — humankind
  8. cap — a lid
  9. land — ground
  10. content — the amount
  11. lean — to bend
  12. cap — of ice
  13. land — a country
  14. race — the arms race
  15. court — for sport
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. race — a contest
  21. court — of a king
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. land — to come down
  24. court — of 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