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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. wind — moving air
  3. current — happening now
  4. current — of water
  5. foot — a measure
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cold — an illness
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. cell — a phone
  11. court — for sport
  12. chair — a leader
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. current — electric
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. cold — not warm
  18. court — of a king
  19. court — of law
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. content — happy
  23. wind — moving air
  24. foot — part of the body

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