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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. club — a group
  6. track — to keep track
  7. content — the amount
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. shower — rain
  13. track — a song
  14. shower — to wash
  15. craft — boats
  16. club — for dancing
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. track — a path
  19. wind — moving air
  20. fork — in a road
  21. craft — a skill
  22. wind — moving air
  23. club — for golf
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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