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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. content — happy
  3. can — a tin
  4. bass — low music
  5. shower — rain
  6. can — to be able to
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bass — the fish
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. content — the amount
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cold — not warm
  18. kid — to tease
  19. can — a tin
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. kid — child
  24. season — in sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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