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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. land — to come down
  3. content — happy
  4. content — the amount
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. row — to paddle
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. mate — a friend
  11. prune — to trim
  12. drill — a practice
  13. prune — to trim
  14. mate — a partner
  15. land — a country
  16. drill — the tool
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. land — ground
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. row — a line
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. drill — army training
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — a phone

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