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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. land — a country
  3. face — to point toward
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. press — to push
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — not warm
  8. press — newspapers
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. land — ground
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. face — part of the head
  15. branch — a division
  16. face — to confront
  17. press — a publisher
  18. hand — help
  19. row — a line
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. craft — a skill
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. land — to come down
  24. row — to paddle

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