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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: deal · content · land · drill · spring · kid · racket · club

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. kid — to tease
  3. drill — a practice
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. club — a group
  6. deal — to handle
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. land — to come down
  10. drill — the tool
  11. spring — the season
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. drill — army training
  17. land — ground
  18. club — for dancing
  19. land — a country
  20. content — happy
  21. spring — a coil
  22. club — for golf
  23. kid — child
  24. spring — of water

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