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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rush — hurry
  3. swing — in golf
  4. vault — a safe
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. dip — to sink
  7. swing — to play on
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. cold — an illness
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. content — the amount
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. stand — to bear
  16. content — happy
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. swing — music
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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