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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.

Make a worksheet

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
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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: leaves · spring · content · pitcher · land · mine · spell · ground

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. content — happy
  3. spell — magic
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. content — the amount
  7. land — to come down
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. land — ground
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spring — the season
  14. ground — crushed
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. land — a country
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. spell — a short time
  22. spring — of water
  23. spell — letters
  24. mine — for digging

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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