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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. land — ground
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. file — a document
  7. game — wild animals
  8. spring — of water
  9. cold — an illness
  10. spring — the season
  11. file — a line of people
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. pitch — completely
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. content — happy
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. land — a country
  19. file — a tool
  20. game — a match
  21. cold — not warm
  22. land — to come down
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spring — a coil

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