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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cold — not warm
  3. land — a country
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — a friend
  7. tube — the underground
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. roll — a list
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. spell — a short time
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. land — to come down
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. spell — letters
  16. mate — to breed
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. tube — a container
  20. spell — magic
  21. kid — child
  22. roll — a cake
  23. kid — to tease
  24. lie — to recline

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