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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. land — to come down
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. wound — an injury
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. degree — from a university
  10. degree — temperature
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. land — ground
  13. degree — an amount
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. wake — a trail
  19. mine — for digging
  20. sharp — clever
  21. plane — a tool
  22. land — a country
  23. wound — an injury
  24. mine — an explosive

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