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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — a country
  3. march — music
  4. net — for catching
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. last — final
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. last — finally
  10. wound — an injury
  11. lean — thin
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. net — after costs
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. land — ground
  16. march — the month
  17. lean — to bend
  18. net — in sport
  19. snap — to click
  20. wound — an injury
  21. march — the month
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. last — to go on

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