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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. deal — a big deal
  5. march — the month
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. court — of a king
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. march — music
  11. squash — the sport
  12. content — happy
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — not warm
  15. march — the month
  16. court — for sport
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. content — the amount
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. court — of law
  21. squash — to crush
  22. deal — to handle
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. hide — animal skin

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