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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. drill — a practice
  3. land — to come down
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cell — in biology
  7. drill — the tool
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. drill — army training
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. tear — to rip
  15. land — a country
  16. cell — a phone
  17. bat — the animal
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. rule — government
  22. rule — a law
  23. cold — not warm
  24. land — ground

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