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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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Word bank
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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. chest — a box
  4. rash — hasty
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. rash — a series
  9. race — humankind
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bear — the animal
  12. chest — of your body
  13. content — happy
  14. date — the fruit
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. race — a contest
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — the amount
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. chest — of your body
  22. race — the arms race
  23. bear — the animal
  24. content — videos and posts

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