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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. dip — to sink
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. cold — not warm
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. fork — in a road
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. mine — for digging
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cold — an illness
  16. content — happy
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. content — the amount
  19. fall — to drop
  20. race — a contest
  21. fall — the season
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. race — humankind
  24. race — the arms race

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