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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. cue — a signal
  3. land — a country
  4. spring — of water
  5. fall — to drop
  6. present — there
  7. prune — to trim
  8. degree — temperature
  9. present — the time now
  10. cue — a hint
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. clip — a video
  13. clip — to cut
  14. prune — to trim
  15. land — ground
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — from a university
  18. spring — the season
  19. cue — for pool
  20. present — a gift
  21. spring — a coil
  22. clip — for paper
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — the season

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