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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. snap — to click
  3. deal — to handle
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. mine — for digging
  8. file — a line of people
  9. land — to come down
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. bear — the animal
  12. rash — a series
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. file — a tool
  16. rash — hasty
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. land — a country
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. bear — the animal
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. file — a document

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