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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. ground — the earth
  4. land — a country
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. ground — crushed
  7. ground — a position
  8. stand — to bear
  9. spell — a short time
  10. spring — a coil
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. spell — letters
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. land — to come down
  15. land — ground
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. spring — of water
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spring — the season
  23. spell — magic
  24. temple — a place of worship

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