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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. spring — the season
  3. perch — the fish
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. rule — a law
  6. ball — a great time
  7. spring — a coil
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. spring — of water
  10. wax — to grow
  11. ball — a dance
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. content — happy
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. cell — a phone
  16. root — of a plant
  17. root — the cause
  18. content — the amount
  19. root — of a word
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cell — in biology
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. ball — a round shape

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