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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 116 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. content — the amount
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. wake — a trail
  6. cap — of ice
  7. season — of the year
  8. field — a subject
  9. field — farmland
  10. cold — not warm
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. field — for sport
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. cap — a hat
  18. cap — a lid
  19. content — happy
  20. lash — to lash out
  21. season — in sport
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. cold — the Cold War

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