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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. chest — a box
  4. chest — of your body
  5. content — happy
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mark — a trace
  8. content — the amount
  9. present — a gift
  10. cold — not warm
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. last — finally
  13. present — the time now
  14. snap — to click
  15. last — final
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. mark — a grade
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. chest — of your body
  22. present — there
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. content — videos and posts

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