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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: mouse · cold · content · fork · dip · mate · rule · wound

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mate — a friend
  3. rule — government
  4. content — the amount
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mate — to breed
  8. fork — in a road
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. cold — an illness
  13. dip — to sink
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. mate — a partner
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rule — a law

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