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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. content — the amount
  4. root — of a word
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. craft — a skill
  7. land — a country
  8. craft — boats
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. squash — the sport
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. field — a subject
  13. land — ground
  14. field — farmland
  15. root — the cause
  16. land — to come down
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. field — for sport
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. mine — for digging
  23. root — of a plant
  24. squash — to crush

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