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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Where did you ________________ them?
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. mug — a face
  3. land — to come down
  4. spell — letters
  5. spell — magic
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. mug — to rob
  9. mug — a cup
  10. field — farmland
  11. cell — in biology
  12. spell — a short time
  13. land — a country
  14. tear — to rip
  15. field — for sport
  16. land — ground
  17. tear — from crying
  18. field — a subject

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