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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 information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. content — happy
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. object — an aim
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. cold — an illness
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. file — a line of people
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. kid — child
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. kid — to tease
  14. file — a tool
  15. object — to protest
  16. content — the amount
  17. bore — to drill
  18. bore — to tire
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. object — a thing
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cold — not warm
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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