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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.

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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: chest · spring · chip · wake · spell · foot · land · content

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. foot — a measure
  3. spell — letters
  4. chest — a box
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. spell — magic
  8. land — to come down
  9. chest — of your body
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — a coil
  12. content — happy
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. content — the amount
  15. wake — a trail
  16. spring — the season
  17. chip — for betting
  18. chip — to eat
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. spell — a short time
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. land — ground
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. chest — of your body

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