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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — the earth
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bass — the fish
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spell — magic
  12. content — happy
  13. spell — letters
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. ground — crushed
  16. content — the amount
  17. spell — a short time
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. bass — low music
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. kid — to tease

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