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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 120 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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  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. tube — the underground
  2. rash — a series
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. land — a country
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. tube — a container
  11. bat — the animal
  12. content — the amount
  13. stem — to come from
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. land — ground
  16. bear — the animal
  17. rash — hasty
  18. content — happy
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. land — to come down
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. bear — the animal
  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