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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. land — ground
  5. court — for sport
  6. club — for dancing
  7. bank — of a river
  8. degree — from a university
  9. court — of a king
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bank — for money
  14. degree — temperature
  15. club — for golf
  16. bank — for money
  17. club — a group
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. land — to come down
  20. court — of law
  21. scale — in music
  22. degree — an amount
  23. scale — size or range
  24. shower — rain

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