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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. can — a tin
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. land — ground
  5. net — in sport
  6. pound — a weight
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. can — to be able to
  9. can — a tin
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. land — a country
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. net — for catching
  15. content — happy
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. content — the amount
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. net — after costs
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. land — to come down
  23. fork — in a road
  24. cold — not warm

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