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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: rush · roll · staff · chest · content · hand · object · cold

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. rush — hurry
  3. chest — of your body
  4. roll — a list
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. object — a thing
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. content — the amount
  9. staff — employees
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. hand — in cards
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. cold — an illness
  17. object — an aim
  18. staff — a stick
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. chest — a box
  21. staff — employees
  22. chest — of your body
  23. object — to protest
  24. content — happy

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