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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 116 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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. pop — to visit
  6. content — the amount
  7. fall — to drop
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. content — happy
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. pop — music
  12. rush — hurry
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. snap — to click
  15. fall — the season
  16. branch — a division
  17. pop — soda
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bark — to shout
  21. fall — to drop
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. cold — an illness

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