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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 116 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. capital — money
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bound — certain
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. fall — the season
  8. fall — to drop
  9. land — ground
  10. land — a country
  11. spring — of water
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. spring — a coil
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rule — a law
  17. bound — tied together
  18. fall — to drop
  19. capital — a city
  20. land — to come down
  21. spring — the season
  22. tear — to rip
  23. bound — obliged
  24. cold — not warm

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