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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. foot — a measure
  3. bass — low music
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. cold — an illness
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. chest — a box
  10. bank — for money
  11. cold — not warm
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. content — the amount
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. bank — for money
  17. chest — of your body
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. content — happy
  20. mine — for digging
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bank — of a river
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. chest — of your body

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