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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — ground
  3. can — a tin
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. land — a country
  7. can — a tin
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. chest — of your body
  11. cold — not warm
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — a box
  16. capital — money
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. can — to be able to
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. rule — government
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. rule — a law

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