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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. content — the amount
  4. cell — a phone
  5. cap — a lid
  6. jam — a tight spot
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. game — a match
  10. jam — to spread on bread
  11. game — wild animals
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. content — happy
  15. cold — not warm
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. cap — a hat
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cap — of ice
  21. charge — a price
  22. cell — in biology
  23. charge — in control
  24. charge — electricity

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