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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. content — the amount
  3. wind — moving air
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. content — happy
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. fine — all right
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. fine — high quality
  14. wind — moving air
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. cold — not warm
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. season — in sport
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. season — of the year
  24. cold — an illness

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