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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. swing — to play on
  3. swing — in golf
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. pit — a hole
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — ground
  11. rock — music
  12. spell — a short time
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. content — the amount
  16. rock — a stone
  17. land — a country
  18. content — happy
  19. pit — in a race
  20. game — a match
  21. cold — not warm
  22. swing — music
  23. spell — letters
  24. spell — magic

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