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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cell — in biology
  5. content — the amount
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. band — a ring
  9. drill — the tool
  10. pop — soda
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. band — a music group
  16. pop — music
  17. drill — a practice
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pop — to visit
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. drill — army training
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — happy
  24. pitcher — a jug

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