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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. current — happening now
  3. hand — help
  4. land — a country
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. sharp — clever
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. cell — in biology
  12. tear — to rip
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. current — electric
  15. hand — in cards
  16. stem — to come from
  17. current — of water
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  24. cell — a phone

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