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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. row — to paddle
  3. shower — rain
  4. net — for catching
  5. drill — a practice
  6. degree — from a university
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. net — after costs
  9. season — of the year
  10. drill — the tool
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. drill — army training
  13. degree — an amount
  14. net — in sport
  15. row — a line
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. content — happy
  18. cold — not warm
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. shower — to wash
  21. degree — temperature
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. season — in sport
  24. content — the amount

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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