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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: spell · content · mine · drill · row · arm · land · cell

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. spell — letters
  5. row — a line
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. cell — in biology
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spell — a short time
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — a practice
  13. row — to paddle
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. land — to come down
  16. spell — magic
  17. drill — army training
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. mine — for digging
  20. land — a country
  21. cell — a phone
  22. content — the amount
  23. land — ground
  24. arm — a part of something

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