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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — temperature
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. snap — to click
  6. club — for dancing
  7. club — for golf
  8. cell — in biology
  9. cell — a phone
  10. deal — to handle
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. degree — from a university
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. club — a group
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. content — the amount
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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