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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 · squash · tear · pit · cold · mine · snap · rule

  1. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — in a race
  2. mine — for digging
  3. rule — government
  4. cold — not warm
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. snap — to click
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. squash — to crush
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. content — happy
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. squash — the sport
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — an illness
  21. pit — a hole
  22. rule — a law
  23. content — the amount
  24. tear — to rip

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