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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 · rule · trunk · pitcher · squash · land · fan · march

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. land — to come down
  7. content — happy
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. content — the amount
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. march — the month
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. march — music
  15. land — a country
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. squash — to crush
  18. rule — a law
  19. march — the month
  20. rule — government
  21. squash — the sport
  22. land — ground
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. pitcher — a jug

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