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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. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. cap — of ice
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. chip — for betting
  5. land — to come down
  6. cold — an illness
  7. prune — to trim
  8. land — ground
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. shower — to wash
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. cap — a lid
  13. prune — to trim
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. cap — a hat
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. chip — to eat
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. land — a country
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. shower — rain

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