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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. fine — high quality
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. land — ground
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. file — a tool
  9. content — happy
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. kid — child
  14. mine — for digging
  15. kid — to tease
  16. content — the amount
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. file — a line of people
  19. land — a country
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. file — a document
  23. cabinet — ministers
  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