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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 124 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. He is an ace ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — magic
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. plane — a tool
  9. land — a country
  10. bore — to tire
  11. court — of a king
  12. land — ground
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. court — for sport
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. net — for catching
  17. land — to come down
  18. court — of law
  19. net — after costs
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. net — in sport
  22. bore — to drill
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. mine — for digging

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