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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 120 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: kid · march · mark · content · board · foot · stem · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mark — a grade
  3. board — a committee
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. march — music
  7. stem — to come from
  8. march — the month
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. mark — a trace
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — an illness
  13. kid — to tease
  14. board — to get on
  15. cold — not warm
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. content — the amount
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. foot — a measure
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. march — the month
  24. kid — child

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