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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. object — an aim
  3. bore — to drill
  4. kid — child
  5. object — to protest
  6. plane — a tool
  7. bore — to tire
  8. land — a country
  9. spring — the season
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. spring — a coil
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. land — ground
  17. spring — of water
  18. hand — in cards
  19. mine — for digging
  20. land — to come down
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. object — a thing
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. plane — in geometry

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