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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. squash — to crush
  4. net — in sport
  5. capital — money
  6. fine — all right
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wax — to grow
  10. capital — a city
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. band — a ring
  16. band — a music group
  17. squash — the sport
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. net — for catching
  20. net — after costs
  21. content — happy
  22. content — the amount
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. fine — high quality

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