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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. cold — an illness
  3. squash — to crush
  4. craft — boats
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. content — happy
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. march — music
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. scale — size or range
  13. craft — a skill
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. tube — the underground
  17. content — the amount
  18. march — the month
  19. tube — a container
  20. march — the month
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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