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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stem — to come from
  3. shower — rain
  4. wind — moving air
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. lie — to recline
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. land — a country
  9. shower — to wash
  10. hand — in cards
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. mate — to breed
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. mate — a partner
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. mate — a friend
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. land — to come down
  22. wind — moving air
  23. snap — to click
  24. wind — to turn a key

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