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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. content — the amount
  3. press — a publisher
  4. press — newspapers
  5. cold — not warm
  6. spell — magic
  7. spell — a short time
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bank — for money
  10. content — happy
  11. land — a country
  12. cold — an illness
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. shower — to wash
  15. bank — for money
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. mine — for digging
  18. land — to come down
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. press — to push
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. spell — letters
  23. bank — of a river
  24. shower — rain

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