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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. tube — the underground
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in biology
  9. tube — a container
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rush — hurry
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cold — not warm
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. content — happy
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. tube — in a tire

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