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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: drill · wound · cold · bowl · pop · spring · dip · content

  1. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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. dip — to sink
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. pop — soda
  6. drill — a practice
  7. pop — music
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. bowl — a dish
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. pop — to visit
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cold — an illness
  15. drill — army training
  16. content — the amount
  17. spring — of water
  18. wound — an injury
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. wound — an injury
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. content — happy
  23. cold — not warm
  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