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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. land — ground
  3. hand — in cards
  4. roll — a cake
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. rule — a law
  8. roll — a list
  9. hand — help
  10. rule — government
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. chest — a box
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. chest — of your body
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. wax — to grow
  22. land — to come down
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. chest — of your body

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