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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. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. charge — in control
  2. charge — a price
  3. net — for catching
  4. land — to come down
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. spell — a short time
  7. land — ground
  8. dip — to sink
  9. net — in sport
  10. net — after costs
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. spell — magic
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. bat — the animal
  17. content — happy
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. content — the amount
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. charge — electricity
  22. bark — to shout
  23. land — a country
  24. spell — letters

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