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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. kid — to tease
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. land — a country
  8. cold — not warm
  9. ground — the earth
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. ground — a position
  14. content — the amount
  15. land — to come down
  16. content — happy
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. land — ground
  19. kid — child
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. lean — to bend
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. lean — thin
  24. ground — crushed

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