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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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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: spring · field · dip · content · rush · cold · sharp · ball

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. rush — hurry
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. dip — to sink
  9. ball — a dance
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. spring — the season
  12. field — a subject
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. sharp — clever
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. spring — of water
  18. ball — a great time
  19. field — farmland
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. field — for sport
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. content — happy

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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