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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. When was this ________________ built?
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. clip — to cut
  7. deal — to handle
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. land — a country
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — for paper
  15. cold — an illness
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. scale — size or range
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. scale — in music
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. land — to come down
  23. clip — a video
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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