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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. game — a match
  4. rule — a law
  5. pit — in a race
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. game — wild animals
  8. land — to come down
  9. hand — in cards
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. drill — army training
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. drill — a practice
  17. hand — help
  18. content — happy
  19. date — the fruit
  20. content — the amount
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. pit — a hole
  24. rule — government

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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