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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. staff — employees
  4. staff — employees
  5. club — a group
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. content — happy
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. season — in sport
  10. cold — not warm
  11. branch — a division
  12. club — for dancing
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. content — the amount
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. club — for golf
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. season — of the year
  22. staff — a stick
  23. cold — an illness
  24. temple — side of the head

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