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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. content — the amount
  3. land — ground
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. pit — a hole
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ground — a position
  8. pass — a permit
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. pit — in a race
  11. land — a country
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. ground — crushed
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. land — to come down
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. content — happy

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