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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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. rash — hasty
  3. spell — a short time
  4. hand — help
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. chest — a box
  7. mine — for digging
  8. spell — letters
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. last — to go on
  12. land — to come down
  13. last — final
  14. chest — of your body
  15. land — a country
  16. chest — of your body
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. rash — a series
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. spell — magic
  21. hand — in cards
  22. branch — a division
  23. last — finally
  24. land — ground

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