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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  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. content — the amount
  2. bound — tied together
  3. scale — size or range
  4. can — a tin
  5. mark — a grade
  6. cold — not warm
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — from a university
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bound — certain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bound — obliged
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. content — happy
  16. stem — to come from
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. mark — a trace
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. scale — in music
  22. can — to be able to
  23. can — a tin
  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