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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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. last — to go on
  3. content — happy
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. land — a country
  6. last — finally
  7. spell — a short time
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. spell — letters
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. plane — a tool
  15. cold — not warm
  16. last — final
  17. land — ground
  18. land — to come down
  19. content — the amount
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. spell — magic
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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