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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 116 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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. mine — for digging
  3. content — the amount
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. spell — letters
  6. track — a song
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. content — happy
  9. track — to keep track
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. spell — magic
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. spell — a short time
  15. track — a path
  16. game — a match
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. game — wild animals
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. ruler — for measuring

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