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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. cap — a lid
  3. cell — a phone
  4. land — to come down
  5. drill — a practice
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. kid — to tease
  8. land — a country
  9. cap — of ice
  10. tear — to rip
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — size or range
  13. mine — for digging
  14. drill — army training
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. drill — the tool
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kid — child
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cell — in biology
  24. land — ground

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