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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. ground — the earth
  3. wind — moving air
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. shower — rain
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. stock — shares
  10. game — a match
  11. wind — moving air
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. stock — goods
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. ground — a position
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. ground — crushed
  18. shower — to wash
  19. land — to come down
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. snap — to click
  23. land — ground
  24. game — wild animals

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