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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. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — a company
  2. land — a country
  3. spell — magic
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — in cards
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. row — to paddle
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. cold — an illness
  13. row — a line
  14. spell — letters
  15. firm — steady
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. spell — a short time
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bat — the animal
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. firm — decided

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