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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. drill — army training
  5. land — to come down
  6. chest — a box
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. prune — to trim
  11. band — a ring
  12. drill — the tool
  13. band — a music group
  14. chest — of your body
  15. prune — to trim
  16. chest — of your body
  17. drill — a practice
  18. cap — a lid
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. cap — a hat
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. cap — of ice

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