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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.

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: game · content · file · land · net · squash · mate · tear

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. tear — from crying
  3. content — happy
  4. squash — the sport
  5. game — a match
  6. mate — a partner
  7. file — a tool
  8. squash — to crush
  9. content — the amount
  10. tear — from crying
  11. file — a document
  12. net — for catching
  13. game — wild animals
  14. net — after costs
  15. land — a country
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. file — a line of people
  18. tear — to rip
  19. net — in sport
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. land — to come down
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. mate — to breed
  24. mate — a friend

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