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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. land — a country
  3. plane — a tool
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. hand — in cards
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. stem — to come from
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. wake — a trail
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. land — to come down
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. hand — help
  21. chip — to eat
  22. cold — an illness
  23. land — ground
  24. chip — for betting

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