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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 116 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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  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. land — to come down
  2. tear — to rip
  3. land — a country
  4. ground — crushed
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. wind — moving air
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rest — what's left
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. root — of a plant
  11. ground — the earth
  12. rest — a break
  13. row — to paddle
  14. root — of a word
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. ground — a position
  17. wind — moving air
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. mine — for digging
  20. root — the cause
  21. tear — from crying
  22. row — a line
  23. tear — from crying
  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