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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — to come down
  3. bore — to drill
  4. fall — the season
  5. land — a country
  6. fall — to drop
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. hand — help
  10. tear — to rip
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. kid — to tease
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. bore — to tire
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. tear — from crying
  18. hand — in cards
  19. spring — a coil
  20. kid — child
  21. spring — of water
  22. tear — from crying
  23. fall — to drop
  24. spring — the season

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