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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 · wake · game · land · prune · last · perch · wind

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. wake — a trail
  3. wind — moving air
  4. content — the amount
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. last — to go on
  9. game — wild animals
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. content — happy
  14. land — to come down
  15. land — a country
  16. last — finally
  17. wind — moving air
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. prune — to trim
  21. land — ground
  22. perch — the fish
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. game — a match

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