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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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. fall — the season
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. fall — to drop
  6. dip — to sink
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. root — of a word
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. cold — an illness
  11. face — part of the head
  12. face — to point toward
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fall — to drop
  16. chair — a leader
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. face — to confront
  19. root — of a plant
  20. content — happy
  21. content — the amount
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. root — the cause

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