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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spell · content · bat · fork · cold · rock · land · mug

  1. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. mug — to rob
  3. land — to come down
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. mug — a face
  6. fork — in a road
  7. spell — a short time
  8. rock — music
  9. land — ground
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. spell — letters
  15. content — the amount
  16. content — happy
  17. cold — not warm
  18. land — a country
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. spell — magic
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — an illness
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. rock — a stone

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