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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: shower · cold · content · chest · track · bay · pitch · roll

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pitch — completely
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. roll — a cake
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. shower — to wash
  11. content — the amount
  12. track — a song
  13. content — happy
  14. track — a path
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. chest — of your body
  21. shower — rain
  22. cold — an illness
  23. track — to keep track
  24. roll — a list

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