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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. kick — in football
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. file — a tool
  5. spell — letters
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. land — a country
  8. spring — of water
  9. file — a document
  10. land — to come down
  11. spell — magic
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. shower — to wash
  14. spring — a coil
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. spring — the season
  17. shower — rain
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. current — electric
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. current — of water
  22. file — a line of people
  23. current — happening now
  24. spell — a short time

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