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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. land — a country
  3. pop — soda
  4. land — to come down
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — to drop
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. sharp — clever
  13. cold — an illness
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. land — ground
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. fall — the season
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — help
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pop — to visit
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. pop — music
  24. sharp — with an edge

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