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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. craft — boats
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. chest — a box
  7. chest — of your body
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. land — to come down
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. hand — help
  15. stem — to come from
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. craft — a skill
  18. land — ground

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