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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  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. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. face — to confront
  4. face — to point toward
  5. degree — an amount
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. rock — a stone
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. rock — music
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. degree — temperature
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. face — part of the head
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. degree — from a university
  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