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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. key — in music
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. land — to come down
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to click
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. key — for a lock
  10. hand — in cards
  11. field — for sport
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. field — farmland
  14. shower — to wash
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. hand — help
  18. key — the most important part
  19. shower — rain
  20. field — a subject
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. chest — a box
  23. land — ground
  24. wax — to grow

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