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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. face — to confront
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. face — part of the head
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. game — wild animals
  9. land — to come down
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. game — a match
  13. fork — in a road
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. hand — help
  16. face — to point toward
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. hand — in cards
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. land — a country
  24. game — a kind of play

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