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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: bat · wound · content · spring · land · bark · fork · pop

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. land — a country
  3. pop — to visit
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. pop — soda
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. wound — an injury
  10. content — happy
  11. content — the amount
  12. land — to come down
  13. spring — a coil
  14. fork — in a road
  15. spring — of water
  16. land — ground
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wound — an injury
  19. bat — the animal
  20. spring — the season
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. pop — music
  24. bat — in an idiom

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