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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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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 · chest · fork · file · cold · bay · key · bear

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. My mare is ________________ in color.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. fork — in a road
  3. key — the most important part
  4. content — happy
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. chest — a box
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. file — a tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bear — the animal
  17. content — the amount
  18. bear — the animal
  19. key — in music
  20. key — for a lock
  21. bay — a horse colour
  22. cold — not warm
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. cold — the Cold War

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