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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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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. content — happy
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. toast — bread
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bat — the animal
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. content — the amount
  11. craft — boats
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. rush — hurry
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. craft — a skill
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. cold — not warm
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. dip — to sink
  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