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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 120 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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. mate — to breed
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bear — the animal
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. pitch — completely
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. content — happy
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. game — a match
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bear — the animal
  19. kid — to tease
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. kid — child
  22. game — wild animals
  23. mate — a partner
  24. mate — a friend

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