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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. swing — music
  3. branch — a division
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. content — happy
  7. land — ground
  8. content — the amount
  9. swing — to play on
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. land — a country
  12. land — to come down
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. net — in sport
  15. wake — a trail
  16. swing — in golf
  17. row — a line
  18. mine — for digging
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. net — after costs
  23. row — to paddle
  24. branch — of a bank

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