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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 116 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. pound — a weight
  6. race — humankind
  7. cold — not warm
  8. lean — to bend
  9. lean — thin
  10. saw — the tool
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. rule — a law
  15. race — a contest
  16. rule — government
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. race — the arms race
  23. content — the amount
  24. saw — the tool

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