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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 116 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 water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. pit — a hole
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. content — happy
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. cold — an illness
  10. content — the amount
  11. present — a gift
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. dip — to sink
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. present — the time now
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. pit — in a race
  19. root — of a plant
  20. root — the cause
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. root — of a word
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. present — there

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