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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 ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. root — of a plant
  3. content — happy
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. hand — in cards
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. content — the amount
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. root — of a word
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mark — a trace
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. root — the cause
  18. mark — a grade
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — in music
  21. hand — help
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. scale — for weighing

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