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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 116 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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. mine — for digging
  6. row — a line
  7. branch — a division
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wake — a trail
  10. rule — government
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. row — to paddle
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — the season
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. wind — moving air
  22. rule — a law
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. fall — to drop

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