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

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. perch — the fish
  3. chest — a box
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. fine — high quality
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. land — ground
  8. land — a country
  9. fine — all right
  10. content — the amount
  11. key — in music
  12. chest — of your body
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. content — happy
  15. key — the most important part
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. wind — moving air
  19. land — to come down
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. key — for a lock
  22. chest — of your body
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. straw — a straw man

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