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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. drill — the tool
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rash — a series
  9. content — the amount
  10. drill — army training
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. key — for a lock
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — an illness
  15. stem — to come from
  16. key — the most important part
  17. rash — hasty
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. key — in music
  20. drill — a practice
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. cabinet — ministers

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