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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 116 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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. drill — army training
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. mine — for digging
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. drill — a practice
  9. capital — money
  10. fine — all right
  11. fine — high quality
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. capital — a city
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. cold — an illness
  23. branch — a division
  24. drill — the tool

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