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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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: face · game · shower · can · cold · content · arm · hide

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. content — the amount
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. cold — not warm
  6. face — to confront
  7. shower — to wash
  8. face — part of the head
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. game — a match
  12. can — a tin
  13. cold — an illness
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. content — happy
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. shower — rain
  18. game — wild animals
  19. can — to be able to
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. face — to point toward
  23. can — a tin
  24. hide — to keep secret

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