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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. chip — to eat
  3. land — a country
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. degree — from a university
  6. degree — temperature
  7. spring — a coil
  8. degree — an amount
  9. chair — a leader
  10. spring — of water
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. land — to come down
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. spring — the season
  15. land — ground
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. kid — child
  18. mine — for digging
  19. chip — for betting
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. kid — to tease
  24. patient — a sick person

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