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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. present — the time now
  3. present — a gift
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. spring — of water
  6. clip — for paper
  7. ground — crushed
  8. present — there
  9. clip — a video
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. ball — a dance
  12. clip — to cut
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. sharp — clever
  15. spring — the season
  16. ground — a position
  17. land — ground
  18. land — to come down
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. spring — a coil
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. ground — the earth
  24. ball — a great time

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