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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. spring — a coil
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. land — ground
  5. cell — a phone
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. mine — for digging
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. spring — of water
  10. object — an aim
  11. prune — to trim
  12. object — to protest
  13. land — a country
  14. spring — the season
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. prune — to trim
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. cell — in biology
  19. land — to come down
  20. race — the arms race
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. race — humankind
  23. race — a contest
  24. object — a thing

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