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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. game — a match
  3. game — wild animals
  4. rock — a stone
  5. cold — not warm
  6. land — a country
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. content — the amount
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rock — music
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. mine — for digging
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. land — ground
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. content — happy
  18. bear — the animal
  19. bear — the animal
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. cold — an illness

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