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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. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. spell — magic
  4. spell — letters
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. cold — an illness
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. content — happy
  9. foot — a measure
  10. bass — low music
  11. spell — a short time
  12. content — the amount
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. date — the fruit
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bark — to shout
  24. bass — the fish

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