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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. kid — to tease
  3. sharp — clever
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. suit — to fit
  7. content — happy
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. suit — in cards
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cold — not warm
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. kid — child
  17. file — a document
  18. suit — clothes
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. file — a tool
  21. content — the amount
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. cold — an illness

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