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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · chest · cap · cell · season · mate · row · content

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. season — of the year
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cap — of ice
  6. chest — a box
  7. mate — a partner
  8. land — a country
  9. season — in sport
  10. chest — of your body
  11. mate — to breed
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. land — ground
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. chest — of your body
  17. row — a line
  18. land — to come down
  19. content — happy
  20. cell — a phone
  21. row — to paddle
  22. mate — a friend
  23. cell — in biology
  24. content — the amount

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