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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. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. chest — a box
  4. foot — a measure
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. hand — in cards
  8. land — a country
  9. spell — letters
  10. ground — crushed
  11. spell — magic
  12. chest — of your body
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — help
  15. chest — of your body
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. land — to come down
  19. ground — a position
  20. spell — a short time
  21. ground — the earth
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. pitch — completely
  24. fan — to cool the air

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