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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. present — a gift
  3. mine — for digging
  4. game — wild animals
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. present — there
  7. present — the time now
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. land — a country
  11. bear — the animal
  12. scale — size or range
  13. spell — magic
  14. snap — to click
  15. spell — a short time
  16. scale — in music
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bear — the animal
  21. spell — letters
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. game — a match
  24. land — to come down

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