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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. band — a music group
  3. spell — letters
  4. branch — a division
  5. land — to come down
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. fall — the season
  10. spell — magic
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. row — a line
  13. land — ground
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. field — a subject
  16. pound — a weight
  17. spell — a short time
  18. fall — to drop
  19. band — a ring
  20. field — for sport
  21. field — farmland
  22. row — to paddle
  23. fall — to drop
  24. band — a rubber band

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