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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. content — happy
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. row — to paddle
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. fork — in a road
  9. land — to come down
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. shower — to wash
  12. row — a line
  13. content — the amount
  14. shower — rain
  15. land — ground
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. ground — the earth
  18. court — of law
  19. court — for sport
  20. ground — a position
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. ground — crushed
  23. court — of a king
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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