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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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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  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. cold — not warm
  2. content — happy
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. wound — an injury
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. charge — a price
  14. wound — an injury
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. charge — in control
  18. chair — a leader
  19. content — the amount
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. charge — electricity
  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