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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. content — happy
  3. clip — a video
  4. chest — a box
  5. pop — to visit
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. chest — of your body
  8. staff — employees
  9. clip — to cut
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. staff — employees
  12. drill — the tool
  13. pop — music
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. drill — army training
  17. staff — a stick
  18. pop — soda
  19. clip — for paper
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cold — not warm
  22. drill — a practice
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pitcher — a jug

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