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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. content — happy
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. can — to be able to
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. band — a music group
  7. pound — a weight
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. content — the amount
  12. cold — an illness
  13. land — to come down
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. band — a ring
  17. land — a country
  18. land — ground
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cold — not warm
  23. can — a tin
  24. fan — a supporter

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