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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. rash — a series
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — a subject
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. branch — a division
  11. rash — hasty
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. wind — moving air
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. land — to come down
  16. hand — help
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. land — ground
  19. field — for sport
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. trunk — of a car

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