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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. staff — employees
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. court — of a king
  7. court — for sport
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. staff — employees
  10. staff — a stick
  11. chair — a leader
  12. wind — moving air
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. land — ground
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. court — of law
  19. fork — in a road
  20. content — the amount
  21. wind — moving air
  22. content — happy
  23. wind — to turn a key
  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