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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. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pop — to visit
  4. content — happy
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. wind — moving air
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. object — to protest
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. present — the time now
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. wind — moving air
  13. present — there
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. pop — music
  16. file — a tool
  17. pop — soda
  18. present — a gift
  19. object — an aim
  20. file — a document
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. cold — not warm
  23. file — a line of people
  24. content — the amount

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