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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. tear — from crying
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. land — a country
  5. land — to come down
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. degree — from a university
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. degree — temperature
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. root — of a word
  12. root — of a plant
  13. tear — to rip
  14. content — happy
  15. swing — to play on
  16. root — the cause
  17. land — ground
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. degree — an amount
  20. tear — from crying
  21. swing — music
  22. fork — in a road
  23. perch — the fish
  24. swing — in golf

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