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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 120 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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. last — final
  4. file — a document
  5. cold — an illness
  6. content — happy
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. squash — to crush
  10. fork — in a road
  11. deal — to handle
  12. cold — not warm
  13. game — a match
  14. file — a line of people
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. last — to go on
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. squash — the sport
  19. game — wild animals
  20. file — a tool
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. last — finally
  24. deal — an agreement

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