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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 120 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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  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. ball — a great time
  2. land — ground
  3. root — of a plant
  4. content — happy
  5. chest — of your body
  6. land — to come down
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. firm — decided
  9. firm — steady
  10. row — a line
  11. chest — a box
  12. ball — a dance
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. wound — an injury
  16. root — the cause
  17. chest — of your body
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wound — an injury
  20. root — of a word
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. content — the amount
  23. firm — a company
  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