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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. wound — an injury
  3. spell — a short time
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. spell — magic
  6. mine — for digging
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. spell — letters
  11. cell — a phone
  12. pitch — completely
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. rule — a law
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. row — to paddle
  17. row — a line
  18. cell — in biology
  19. rule — government
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. wound — an injury
  22. content — happy
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. content — the amount

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