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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. land — ground
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. land — a country
  6. bore — to tire
  7. wind — moving air
  8. bulb — for light
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bulb — for light
  11. mine — for digging
  12. craft — a skill
  13. bore — to drill
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cold — not warm
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. march — music
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. land — to come down
  20. wind — moving air
  21. craft — boats
  22. cold — an illness
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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