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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: rash · date · cold · drill · wave · lie · content · degree

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. cold — not warm
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. rash — hasty
  8. lie — to recline
  9. drill — the tool
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. content — the amount
  12. drill — army training
  13. degree — temperature
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. degree — from a university
  16. rash — a series
  17. date — the fruit
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. degree — an amount
  20. drill — a practice
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. cold — an illness

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