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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 124 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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. net — in sport
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. tear — from crying
  6. net — after costs
  7. tear — to rip
  8. kid — child
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. kid — to tease
  13. tear — from crying
  14. land — a country
  15. land — to come down
  16. net — for catching
  17. last — final
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. ball — a dance
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. last — to go on
  22. ball — a great time
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. last — finally

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