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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. bulb — for light
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. ground — a position
  5. ball — a great time
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ground — the earth
  8. cold — an illness
  9. content — happy
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. content — the amount
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. capital — a city
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — to drop
  21. bulb — for light
  22. ball — a dance
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. fall — the season

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