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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I've got to change the light ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. file — a document
  3. land — ground
  4. content — happy
  5. spring — of water
  6. dip — to sink
  7. land — a country
  8. spring — the season
  9. last — finally
  10. file — a tool
  11. land — to come down
  12. tear — to rip
  13. last — to go on
  14. last — final
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. file — a line of people
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. bulb — for light
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bulb — for light

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