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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. last — final
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bound — certain
  5. last — finally
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cell — in biology
  9. spell — a short time
  10. cold — an illness
  11. last — to go on
  12. cold — not warm
  13. board — to get on
  14. land — ground
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. land — to come down
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. bound — tied together
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. rush — hurry
  21. bound — obliged
  22. board — a committee
  23. spell — letters
  24. land — a country

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