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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. content — the amount
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fork — in a road
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. land — a country
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. last — final
  10. perch — the fish
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. cue — a hint
  14. cue — a signal
  15. track — a path
  16. land — to come down
  17. cue — for pool
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. track — to keep track
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. last — to go on
  22. content — happy
  23. last — finally
  24. land — ground

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