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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 116 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. last — finally
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mark — a trace
  6. bat — the animal
  7. mark — a grade
  8. can — a tin
  9. mine — for digging
  10. land — to come down
  11. last — final
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. can — to be able to
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mate — a partner
  20. mate — to breed
  21. last — to go on
  22. mate — a friend
  23. can — a tin
  24. cold — an illness

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