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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. chip — for betting
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. fall — to drop
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. fall — to drop
  8. wind — moving air
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. mine — for digging
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. wind — moving air
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. board — to get on
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. fall — the season
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. land — a country
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. chip — to eat
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. land — to come down
  24. board — a committee

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