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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  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. object — to protest
  2. cold — not warm
  3. object — a thing
  4. content — the amount
  5. squash — the sport
  6. can — to be able to
  7. pop — to visit
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. object — an aim
  11. game — a match
  12. pop — soda
  13. capital — money
  14. can — a tin
  15. capital — a city
  16. content — happy
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. squash — to crush
  19. game — wild animals
  20. pop — music
  21. can — a tin
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. game — a kind of play
  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