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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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Word bank
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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: toast · hand · fall · bat · mouse · pit · content · land

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  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. fall — to drop
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. pit — in a race
  5. pit — a hole
  6. content — happy
  7. land — ground
  8. toast — bread
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. land — a country
  12. land — to come down
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — help
  15. hand — in cards
  16. fall — the season
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. fall — to drop
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. bat — the animal
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. content — videos and posts
  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