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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. rest — a break
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. wind — moving air
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. season — of the year
  7. rest — what's left
  8. root — of a plant
  9. land — a country
  10. root — of a word
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bound — certain
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. root — the cause
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. rest — what's left
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bound — tied together
  19. land — to come down
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. pitch — completely
  22. season — in sport
  23. wind — moving air
  24. bound — obliged

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