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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: wind · rest · content · plane · mate · mark · fork · last

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. content — happy
  3. mate — a friend
  4. last — final
  5. wind — moving air
  6. content — the amount
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. rest — a break
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. mate — to breed
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. wind — moving air
  14. mate — a partner
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. plane — a tool
  17. last — finally
  18. rest — what's left
  19. last — to go on
  20. mark — a trace
  21. rest — what's left
  22. fork — in a road
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. mark — a grade

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