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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 120 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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. land — a country
  3. land — to come down
  4. tube — a container
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. content — happy
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. content — the amount
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a music group
  16. tube — the underground
  17. mine — for digging
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. land — ground
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — a sick person

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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