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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. game — wild animals
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. content — happy
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chair — a leader
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pound — a weight
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a line of people
  18. bear — the animal
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. bear — the animal
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. game — a match
  24. file — a tool

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