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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. content — happy
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. key — for a lock
  6. date — the fruit
  7. drill — a practice
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cold — an illness
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. key — in music
  14. bore — to tire
  15. drill — army training
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. key — the most important part
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. drill — the tool
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. bore — to drill
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. content — the amount

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