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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.

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: cabinet · mine · toast · stem · net · face · game · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. toast — bread
  3. face — to point toward
  4. stem — to come from
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. game — a match
  7. net — after costs
  8. content — the amount
  9. net — in sport
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. game — wild animals
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. net — for catching
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. toast — a drink to someone
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. face — to confront
  21. face — part of the head
  22. mine — for digging
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. content — videos and posts

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