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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mate — a friend
  3. spring — the season
  4. land — a country
  5. pit — in a race
  6. spring — of water
  7. pit — a hole
  8. row — to paddle
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. land — to come down
  11. spring — a coil
  12. court — for sport
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. mate — a partner
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — child
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. cold — not warm
  20. mate — to breed
  21. court — of a king
  22. cold — an illness
  23. row — a line
  24. court — of law

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