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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. land — ground
  3. land — to come down
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. dip — to sink
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. land — a country
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. content — the amount
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. snap — to click
  16. content — happy
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. ground — crushed
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. ground — a position
  24. ground — the earth

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