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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: roll · suit · face · clip · content · cold · shower · dip

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. When will it ________________ you to start?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — for paper
  3. content — happy
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. roll — a cake
  6. suit — in cards
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. content — the amount
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. dip — to sink
  11. cold — an illness
  12. shower — to wash
  13. roll — a list
  14. face — part of the head
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. face — to confront
  17. face — to point toward
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. suit — clothes
  24. suit — to fit

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