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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: content · degree · file · cold · cabinet · clip · date · bear

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. file — a tool
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. clip — to cut
  5. date — the fruit
  6. degree — from a university
  7. cold — not warm
  8. content — happy
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bear — the animal
  11. file — a document
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. degree — an amount
  15. clip — for paper
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. content — the amount
  18. clip — a video
  19. degree — temperature
  20. file — a line of people
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. date — on the calendar

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