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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. mine — for digging
  5. root — of a word
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. root — the cause
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. root — of a plant
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. land — to come down
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. snap — to click
  16. foot — a measure
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. land — a country
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. land — ground

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