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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. charge — electricity
  3. charge — a price
  4. drill — a practice
  5. bulb — for light
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. wind — moving air
  8. drill — army training
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pop — to visit
  11. pop — soda
  12. snap — to click
  13. charge — in control
  14. bulb — for light
  15. pop — music
  16. file — a line of people
  17. file — a document
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. land — a country
  20. file — a tool
  21. land — to come down
  22. drill — the tool
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. wind — to turn a key

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