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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 120 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 like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. lean — thin
  5. degree — from a university
  6. land — to come down
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. land — ground
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. land — a country
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bulb — for light
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — for digging
  16. dip — to sink
  17. lean — to bend
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. degree — an amount
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bulb — for light
  23. cold — an illness
  24. dip — a sauce

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