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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. content — happy
  5. march — the month
  6. field — farmland
  7. object — an aim
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. wound — an injury
  10. content — the amount
  11. object — to protest
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cold — an illness
  14. game — a match
  15. object — a thing
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. march — the month
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. game — wild animals
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. field — a subject
  22. march — music
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. field — for sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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