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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. staff — employees
  5. content — happy
  6. cold — not warm
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. rash — hasty
  11. staff — employees
  12. rash — a series
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. ball — a dance
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cold — an illness
  17. staff — a stick
  18. content — the amount
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wind — moving air
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. wind — moving air
  24. ball — a great time

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