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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to sink
  2. land — a country
  3. land — ground
  4. track — to keep track
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. land — to come down
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. content — happy
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bark — to shout
  12. hand — in cards
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. hand — help
  15. content — the amount
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bass — low music
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. track — a song
  24. track — a path

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