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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 120 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: rest · content · chest · bark · cell · season · rule · land

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. content — the amount
  3. land — to come down
  4. rule — a law
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. land — ground
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. land — a country
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rest — what's left
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. season — of the year
  16. chest — a box
  17. season — in sport
  18. rule — government
  19. content — happy
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. cell — a phone
  22. rest — what's left
  23. cell — in biology
  24. bark — to shout

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