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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 116 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. fine — all right
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. spring — of water
  5. row — a line
  6. wound — an injury
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. spring — the season
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. fine — high quality
  13. wound — an injury
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. saw — the tool
  19. stem — to come from
  20. saw — the tool
  21. rule — a law
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. fine — a penalty

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