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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. content — happy
  4. chest — of your body
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. staff — a stick
  7. land — to come down
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. present — there
  11. saw — the tool
  12. content — the amount
  13. present — a gift
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. chest — a box
  17. land — ground
  18. perch — the fish
  19. chest — of your body
  20. staff — employees
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. present — the time now
  24. land — a country

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