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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. row — to paddle
  3. shower — rain
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. land — to come down
  6. pit — in a race
  7. last — final
  8. cold — an illness
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. last — finally
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. shower — to wash
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. branch — a division
  16. row — a line
  17. land — ground
  18. pit — a hole
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. land — a country
  22. cold — not warm
  23. last — to go on
  24. mine — an explosive

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