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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: land · lean · chest · mug · court · wound · shower · content

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. land — to come down
  3. court — of law
  4. court — of a king
  5. mug — a face
  6. shower — rain
  7. chest — of your body
  8. shower — to wash
  9. mug — to rob
  10. lean — to bend
  11. content — the amount
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. land — a country
  14. land — ground
  15. lean — thin
  16. court — for sport
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. mug — a cup
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. content — happy

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