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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. spell — magic
  4. land — ground
  5. cold — an illness
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. track — to keep track
  8. land — to come down
  9. spell — a short time
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. spell — letters
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. track — a song
  14. season — in sport
  15. capital — a city
  16. saw — the tool
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — not warm
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. capital — money
  21. track — a path
  22. season — of the year
  23. saw — the tool
  24. content — happy

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