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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. content — happy
  3. cold — not warm
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. fall — to drop
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. fall — the season
  14. cell — a phone
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. fall — to drop
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cell — in biology
  21. fork — in a road
  22. wind — moving air
  23. content — the amount
  24. wind — moving air

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