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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. spring — of water
  3. last — to go on
  4. row — to paddle
  5. face — to confront
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. content — happy
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. face — to point toward
  10. spring — a coil
  11. last — finally
  12. spring — the season
  13. row — a line
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. cell — in biology
  16. face — part of the head
  17. last — final
  18. cell — a phone

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