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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. roll — a cake
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. march — the month
  6. land — ground
  7. file — a tool
  8. ground — a position
  9. key — for a lock
  10. ground — crushed
  11. roll — a list
  12. content — happy
  13. land — a country
  14. march — the month
  15. key — the most important part
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. ball — a dance
  18. file — a line of people
  19. land — to come down
  20. ball — a great time
  21. ground — the earth
  22. march — music
  23. file — a document
  24. key — in music

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