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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. rest — a break
  3. land — a country
  4. cold — not warm
  5. land — to come down
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. march — music
  11. season — of the year
  12. season — in sport
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. cold — an illness
  16. land — ground
  17. rest — what's left
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. rest — what's left

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