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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cue — for pool
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cue — a signal
  9. cue — a hint
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bark — to shout
  12. rash — hasty
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. rash — a series
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. content — the amount
  20. wake — a trail
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wake — before a funeral

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