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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.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · content · fork · wind · mate · stick

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mate — a friend
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. mate — to breed
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. content — happy
  9. content — the amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. mate — a partner
  12. fork — in a road
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. wind — moving air

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