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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 116 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: cell · rest · ball · content · row · land · perch · wound

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. row — a line
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. land — ground
  9. land — a country
  10. cell — a phone
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. rest — a break
  13. rest — what's left
  14. perch — the fish
  15. content — happy
  16. content — the amount
  17. rest — what's left
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — an injury
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. land — to come down
  23. ball — a dance
  24. row — to paddle

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