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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. content — the amount
  3. shower — rain
  4. tear — to rip
  5. degree — from a university
  6. tear — from crying
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. row — a line
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. degree — temperature
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. deal — to handle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. row — to paddle
  17. degree — an amount
  18. shower — to wash
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. march — the month
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — happy
  24. cold — not warm

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