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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. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. fine — all right
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. pop — music
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. ground — crushed
  7. content — the amount
  8. content — happy
  9. fine — high quality
  10. cold — an illness
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. rock — a stone
  13. rock — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. pop — soda
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. ground — a position
  19. row — to paddle
  20. cold — not warm
  21. row — a line
  22. pop — to visit
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. plane — a tool

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