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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. last — final
  3. land — a country
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rush — hurry
  9. land — to come down
  10. last — finally
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rash — a series
  13. bark — to shout
  14. last — to go on
  15. land — ground
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — hasty
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. fan — a supporter

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