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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 120 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. game — a match
  3. deal — to handle
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. shower — rain
  7. cold — an illness
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. content — happy
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying
  19. cold — not warm
  20. content — the amount
  21. shower — to wash
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. game — wild animals

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