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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. content — happy
  3. content — the amount
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. season — in sport
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. shower — rain
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. pop — to visit
  11. date — the fruit
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. spell — magic
  16. pop — music
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spell — a short time
  20. pop — soda
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — to wash
  24. date — on the calendar

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