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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
468
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: rush · drill · rash · hand · cold · hide · content · snap

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  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. hide — to keep secret
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — an illness
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — in cards
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. drill — the tool
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. rash — hasty
  15. rush — hurry
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. snap — to click
  20. drill — a practice
  21. drill — army training
  22. rash — a series
  23. rush — a thrill
  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