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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. land — a country
  3. fall — the season
  4. land — to come down
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. chip — for betting
  7. fall — to drop
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. land — ground
  11. fall — to drop
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. chip — to eat
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. mine — for digging
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. wind — moving air

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