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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. land — a country
  3. bat — the animal
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. roll — a cake
  9. last — finally
  10. stem — to come from
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. last — final
  13. content — happy
  14. last — to go on
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. content — the amount
  17. rush — hurry
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. land — ground
  20. roll — a list
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. wake — a trail
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. land — to come down

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