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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. content — happy
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. rest — a break
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. hand — help
  12. last — to go on
  13. land — a country
  14. land — ground
  15. rest — what's left
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. content — the amount
  18. hand — in cards
  19. last — finally
  20. cold — not warm
  21. land — to come down
  22. last — final
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. plane — a tool

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