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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. land — a country
  4. bat — the animal
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. wake — a trail
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. tear — from crying
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. tear — from crying
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. land — to come down
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. root — of a plant
  18. root — the cause
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. root — of a word
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. tear — to rip

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