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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 116 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. field — for sport
  3. wind — moving air
  4. row — to paddle
  5. hand — in cards
  6. row — a line
  7. field — farmland
  8. wind — moving air
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. land — to come down
  11. club — a group
  12. scale — size or range
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — help
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. club — for dancing
  18. club — for golf
  19. land — ground
  20. field — a subject
  21. kid — to tease
  22. scale — in music
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. kid — child

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