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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 would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. land — a country
  3. degree — from a university
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. wound — an injury
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. land — to come down
  8. degree — an amount
  9. rest — what's left
  10. face — part of the head
  11. kid — child
  12. degree — temperature
  13. pop — music
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. pop — soda
  16. kid — to tease
  17. wound — an injury
  18. rest — what's left
  19. pop — to visit
  20. face — to confront
  21. land — ground
  22. hide — to keep secret
  23. face — to point toward
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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