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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. dip — to sink
  4. mine — for digging
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. land — ground
  7. land — a country
  8. land — to come down
  9. court — for sport
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. plane — a tool
  12. court — of a king
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. plane — in geometry

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