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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. rule — a law
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. degree — an amount
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — for digging
  7. land — ground
  8. cell — in biology
  9. deal — to handle
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. degree — from a university
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. cell — a phone
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. rule — government
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. fork — in a road
  19. content — the amount
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. content — happy
  22. land — a country
  23. degree — temperature
  24. land — to come down

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