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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. key — in music
  3. season — in sport
  4. roll — a list
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. season — of the year
  7. cold — an illness
  8. track — a song
  9. shower — rain
  10. track — a path
  11. roll — a cake
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. capital — money
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. shower — to wash
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. capital — a city
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. track — to keep track
  20. key — the most important part
  21. cold — not warm
  22. key — for a lock
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — videos and posts

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