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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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468
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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. cell — in biology
  4. content — happy
  5. cold — an illness
  6. snap — to click
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. spring — a coil
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. cold — not warm
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. spring — the season
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. spring — of water
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. wave — with your hand

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