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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. cold — an illness
  3. fall — to drop
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. row — to paddle
  7. fall — the season
  8. track — a path
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spring — of water
  11. track — to keep track
  12. content — happy
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — the season
  15. cold — not warm
  16. court — of a king
  17. track — a song
  18. court — for sport
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. fall — to drop
  21. court — of law
  22. content — the amount
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. ruler — for measuring

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