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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: temple · cold · band · fine · object · content · chest · kid

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. kid — to tease
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. object — a thing
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. band — a music group
  10. cold — not warm
  11. object — an aim
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. cold — an illness
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. kid — child
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. object — to protest
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. chest — of your body
  22. fine — high quality
  23. band — a ring
  24. temple — side of the head

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