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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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Word bank
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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. degree — an amount
  4. mine — for digging
  5. degree — from a university
  6. content — happy
  7. tube — a container
  8. foot — a measure
  9. tube — the underground
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. rash — a series
  15. degree — temperature
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. content — the amount
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rash — hasty
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. cold — an illness

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