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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. court — for sport
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. spring — the season
  5. court — of law
  6. content — the amount
  7. spring — a coil
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. cold — not warm
  11. content — happy
  12. stem — to come from
  13. tube — a container
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. tube — the underground
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. court — of a king
  21. cold — an illness
  22. spring — of water
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. fan — to cool the air

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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