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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. content — the amount
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. hide — animal skin
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. content — happy
  9. file — a document
  10. march — the month
  11. plane — a tool
  12. march — music
  13. squash — to crush
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. bat — the animal
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. file — a line of people
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. march — the month
  23. file — a tool
  24. squash — the sport

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