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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to sink
  2. wound — an injury
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bass — low music
  7. shower — to wash
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. content — happy
  11. object — to protest
  12. object — a thing
  13. cold — not warm
  14. content — the amount
  15. object — an aim
  16. bass — the fish
  17. shower — rain
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — for sport
  21. wound — an injury
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. court — of law

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