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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. content — happy
  4. chest — a box
  5. land — to come down
  6. bore — to tire
  7. rest — a break
  8. rest — what's left
  9. degree — an amount
  10. last — finally
  11. last — final
  12. last — to go on
  13. chest — of your body
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. rest — what's left
  17. content — the amount
  18. land — a country
  19. chest — of your body
  20. degree — temperature
  21. bore — to drill
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. degree — from a university
  24. content — videos and posts

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