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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. land — a country
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. pit — a hole
  5. fall — to drop
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. snap — to click
  8. content — happy
  9. fall — the season
  10. cold — an illness
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. fall — to drop
  13. land — ground
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. land — to come down
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. pit — in a race
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. branch — a division
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — not warm
  24. coach — a trainer

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