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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 124 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. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — a monarch
  2. cold — not warm
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. saw — the tool
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. chest — of your body
  8. sharp — clever
  9. chest — of your body
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. scale — size or range
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. saw — the tool
  19. content — the amount
  20. chest — a box
  21. content — happy
  22. scale — in music
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. content — videos and posts

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