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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. The light ________________ burned out.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. land — ground
  3. spell — letters
  4. key — for a lock
  5. bulb — for light
  6. bat — the animal
  7. mate — a partner
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. key — in music
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. mate — to breed
  14. spell — magic
  15. key — the most important part
  16. spell — a short time
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. land — to come down
  20. mate — a friend
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — final
  23. last — finally
  24. land — a country

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