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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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Word bank
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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 water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. roll — a cake
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. file — a tool
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. file — a document
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. kick — in football
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. rash — hasty
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. content — happy
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. content — the amount
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. roll — a list
  23. file — a line of people
  24. rash — a series

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