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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. spring — a coil
  3. spring — of water
  4. cue — for pool
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. land — ground
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. mine — for digging
  10. land — to come down
  11. cue — a hint
  12. spring — the season
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. fall — the season
  17. date — the fruit
  18. wind — moving air
  19. fall — to drop
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. land — a country
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cue — a signal
  24. fall — to drop

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