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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. current — happening now
  3. wind — moving air
  4. lean — to bend
  5. wind — moving air
  6. sharp — clever
  7. land — ground
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. prune — to trim
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. current — of water
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. current — electric
  15. land — a country
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. hand — in cards
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. capital — money
  20. prune — to trim
  21. lean — thin
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. capital — a city
  24. wind — to turn a key

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