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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. rule — government
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. snap — to click
  6. ground — a position
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cold — an illness
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. degree — an amount
  11. ground — the earth
  12. chip — to eat
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. ground — crushed
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. chip — for betting
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. content — happy
  19. dip — to sink
  20. rule — a law
  21. cold — not warm
  22. degree — temperature
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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