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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. rest — what's left
  6. rest — what's left
  7. mate — a friend
  8. rest — a break
  9. bat — the animal
  10. mate — a partner
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. rule — a law
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. pit — a hole
  15. mate — to breed
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. pit — in a race
  18. land — a country

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