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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. land — a country
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. spring — of water
  7. land — to come down
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cap — of ice
  11. roll — a cake
  12. race — humankind
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. land — ground
  16. spring — the season
  17. fork — in a road
  18. cap — a hat
  19. race — the arms race
  20. plane — a tool
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. race — a contest
  23. cap — a lid
  24. spring — a coil

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