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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. content — the amount
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. content — happy
  6. saw — the tool
  7. saw — the tool
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. season — of the year
  10. last — final
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. root — the cause
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. kick — in football
  17. cold — an illness
  18. last — finally
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. root — of a word
  21. season — in sport
  22. cold — not warm
  23. root — of a plant
  24. last — to go on

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