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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. shower — to wash
  8. content — the amount
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — the season
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fall — to drop
  15. bulb — for light
  16. content — happy
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bark — to shout
  20. bulb — for light
  21. shower — rain
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. pitcher — a jug

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