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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: spring · content · bear · cue · bat · drill · land · racket

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. I'll take my ________________ from you.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. content — happy
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. drill — army training
  5. drill — a practice
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. land — a country
  8. spring — a coil
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. spring — the season
  11. cue — a signal
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. drill — the tool
  15. spring — of water
  16. bear — the animal
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bear — the animal
  21. cue — for pool
  22. content — the amount
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. cue — a hint

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