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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. game — wild animals
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. cold — an illness
  7. content — the amount
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fine — high quality
  10. drill — a practice
  11. game — a match
  12. content — happy
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. fine — all right
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. branch — a division
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. sharp — clever
  24. sharp — exactly

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