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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 124 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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. can — to be able to
  3. wound — an injury
  4. present — a gift
  5. rest — what's left
  6. present — the time now
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — moving air
  9. spring — a coil
  10. can — a tin
  11. rest — what's left
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — the amount
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. present — there
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. land — a country
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. land — to come down
  20. spring — the season
  21. land — ground
  22. rest — a break
  23. spring — of water
  24. can — a tin

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