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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 120 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 knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. chest — a box
  6. wind — moving air
  7. land — to come down
  8. chest — of your body
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. land — ground
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. sharp — clever
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. pitch — completely
  17. pound — a weight
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. nail — for a hammer

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