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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 ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. cold — not warm
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. content — the amount
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. cold — an illness
  8. vault — a safe
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. content — happy
  12. row — to paddle
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. stem — to come from
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. bark — to shout
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. row — a line
  20. scale — size or range
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. scale — in music
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. stem — of a plant

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