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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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. spell — magic
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spell — letters
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. spell — a short time
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. cold — not warm
  16. mark — a trace
  17. content — happy
  18. content — the amount
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. game — a match
  23. game — wild animals
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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