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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. court — of law
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. land — to come down
  6. race — a contest
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. court — of a king
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tube — a container
  12. tear — from crying
  13. kick — in football
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. race — humankind
  16. tear — to rip
  17. court — for sport
  18. rest — a break
  19. rest — what's left
  20. tube — the underground
  21. race — the arms race
  22. land — ground
  23. rest — what's left
  24. tube — in a tire

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