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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 116 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. fall — the season
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. prune — to trim
  5. land — ground
  6. fall — to drop
  7. prune — to trim
  8. cell — a phone
  9. fall — to drop
  10. shower — to wash
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. cell — in biology
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. shower — rain
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. land — to come down

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