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

Word bank: content · lie · chest · straw · bass · snap · cold · march

  1. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. chest — of your body
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. lie — to recline
  7. chest — a box
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bass — the fish
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. snap — to click
  12. march — the month
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — of your body
  16. content — the amount
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. march — music
  19. content — happy
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. march — the month
  23. bass — low music
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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