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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. tear — from crying
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. content — happy
  6. band — a music group
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. land — a country
  10. content — the amount
  11. land — ground
  12. rule — government
  13. tear — to rip
  14. land — to come down
  15. squash — the sport
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. band — a ring
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. tear — from crying
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. rule — a law
  24. cold — an illness

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