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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. last — final
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. content — happy
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. land — to come down
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — a coil
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. root — of a plant
  12. spring — of water
  13. land — ground
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. rule — government
  16. content — the amount
  17. rule — a law
  18. land — a country
  19. last — to go on
  20. bat — the animal
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. last — finally
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. root — the cause

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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