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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. bulb — for light
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. tear — to rip
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. foot — a measure
  10. wound — an injury
  11. bulb — of a plant
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a line of people
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. bulb — for light
  16. cold — an illness
  17. content — happy
  18. wound — an injury
  19. file — a tool
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. content — the amount
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — from crying

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