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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: content · rush · land · sharp · tear · trunk · court · object

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. court — of law
  4. object — to protest
  5. object — an aim
  6. content — happy
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. land — a country
  9. tear — to rip
  10. rush — hurry
  11. land — to come down
  12. land — ground
  13. sharp — clever
  14. tear — from crying
  15. content — the amount
  16. tear — from crying
  17. court — of a king
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. court — for sport
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. object — a thing
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. sharp — exactly

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