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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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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He has no idea where the ________________ is.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. cold — not warm
  3. content — the amount
  4. degree — an amount
  5. wound — an injury
  6. band — a music group
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. staff — a stick
  9. kid — child
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. cold — an illness
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. staff — employees
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. content — happy
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kid — to tease
  19. wound — an injury
  20. degree — from a university
  21. staff — employees
  22. degree — temperature
  23. band — a ring
  24. safe — a strongbox

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