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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. mine — for digging
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. cell — a phone
  8. land — to come down
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. stand — to bear
  11. spell — a short time
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. spell — letters
  14. game — wild animals
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. spell — magic
  22. game — a match
  23. cell — in biology
  24. land — a country

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