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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. swing — in golf
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. swing — to play on
  7. mine — for digging
  8. swing — music
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. saw — the tool
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. rule — a law
  17. cold — not warm
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. snap — to click
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. cold — an illness
  23. saw — the tool
  24. fan — to cool the air

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