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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  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. season — of the year
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. lean — to bend
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. file — a document
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. content — happy
  11. content — the amount
  12. shower — rain
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. season — in sport
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. file — a line of people
  18. shower — to wash
  19. file — a tool
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fine — high quality
  22. lean — thin
  23. fine — all right
  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