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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. wind — moving air
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. land — to come down
  6. file — a line of people
  7. chest — a box
  8. file — a document
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. file — a tool
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cap — a lid
  13. cap — of ice
  14. land — ground
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cap — a hat
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. content — happy
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. content — the amount
  24. chest — of your body

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