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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: racket · dip · arm · cell · can · ground · cold · content

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. cold — not warm
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. ground — crushed
  10. content — happy
  11. ground — the earth
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cold — an illness
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. can — to be able to
  18. content — the amount
  19. can — a tin
  20. cell — a phone
  21. dip — to sink
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. cell — in biology
  24. ground — a position

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