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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. mine — for digging
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. chest — of your body
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. capital — money
  9. rule — a law
  10. chest — a box
  11. roll — a cake
  12. file — a line of people
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. file — a tool
  15. rule — government
  16. file — a document
  17. content — the amount
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. content — happy
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. chest — of your body
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. roll — a list
  24. capital — a city

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