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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. drill — the tool
  5. drill — army training
  6. mug — a face
  7. march — the month
  8. mug — to rob
  9. march — music
  10. content — happy
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. mug — a cup
  14. content — the amount
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. fine — all right
  17. wake — a trail
  18. drill — a practice
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. march — the month
  21. hand — help
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. cold — an illness

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