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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. can — a tin
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. can — to be able to
  5. bark — to shout
  6. spring — of water
  7. content — the amount
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. can — a tin
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. march — the month
  17. content — happy
  18. cold — not warm
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. spring — a coil
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. spring — the season
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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