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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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  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. land — ground
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. mine — for digging
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. land — to come down
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. shower — to wash
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. clip — to cut
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. shower — rain
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. wave — with your hand
  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