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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. staff — employees
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. spring — of water
  5. ground — the earth
  6. spring — a coil
  7. stand — to bear
  8. staff — employees
  9. ground — crushed
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. current — electric
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. staff — a stick
  14. ground — a position
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. land — to come down
  19. spring — the season
  20. land — a country
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. current — of water
  23. current — happening now
  24. stand — on your feet

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