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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. game — wild animals
  3. rule — a law
  4. content — happy
  5. file — a tool
  6. rule — government
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. ball — a great time
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. game — a match
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a document
  16. bark — to shout
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. land — ground
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. ball — a dance
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. band — a music group
  23. band — a ring
  24. bark — of a tree

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