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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. pound — a weight
  4. stem — to come from
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. mine — for digging
  9. clip — to cut
  10. land — a country
  11. dip — to sink
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. clip — a video
  18. land — to come down
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. clip — for paper
  24. stem — a stem cell

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