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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. drill — army training
  3. content — the amount
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. content — happy
  6. court — for sport
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. land — ground
  10. spring — of water
  11. land — to come down
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. drill — a practice
  14. ground — the earth
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. drill — the tool
  17. court — of law
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. land — a country
  20. spring — the season
  21. spring — a coil
  22. court — of a king
  23. ground — a position
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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