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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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. fine — all right
  3. club — for golf
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. land — ground
  7. club — for dancing
  8. bound — tied together
  9. sharp — clever
  10. bound — certain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mine — for digging
  13. land — a country
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — not warm
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. club — a group
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. land — to come down
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. fine — high quality

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