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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. roll — a list
  4. saw — the tool
  5. content — the amount
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. saw — the tool
  8. file — a line of people
  9. roll — a cake
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. file — a document
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. file — a tool
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mine — for digging
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. march — music
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. cold — an illness
  22. content — happy
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. march — the month

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