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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. game — a match
  4. clip — to cut
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. mine — for digging
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — a country
  13. land — ground
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. leaves — lets stay
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. game — wild animals
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. bowl — a dish
  21. clip — a video
  22. jam — a tight spot
  23. clip — for paper
  24. content — the amount

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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