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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. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. vault — a safe
  4. land — a country
  5. swing — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. land — ground
  9. shower — rain
  10. shower — to wash
  11. land — to come down
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. content — happy
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. swing — to play on
  18. press — newspapers
  19. cold — an illness
  20. swing — in golf
  21. press — a publisher
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. press — to push
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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