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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: kid · track · mine · land · content · chest · root · plane

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. root — of a plant
  4. content — the amount
  5. chest — a box
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. land — ground
  9. plane — a tool
  10. track — a song
  11. track — a path
  12. land — a country
  13. chest — of your body
  14. kid — child
  15. root — of a word
  16. root — the cause
  17. content — happy
  18. land — to come down
  19. track — to keep track
  20. mine — for digging
  21. chest — of your body
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. plane — an aircraft

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