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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: swing · content · can · cabinet · land · bowl · tear · cold

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. can — a tin
  7. swing — in golf
  8. tear — to rip
  9. can — a tin
  10. land — ground
  11. content — happy
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. land — to come down
  14. cold — an illness
  15. swing — to play on
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. can — to be able to
  18. cold — not warm
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. swing — music
  22. land — a country
  23. content — the amount
  24. cold — the Cold War

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