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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. mine — for digging
  4. rest — what's left
  5. branch — a division
  6. bass — the fish
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bass — low music
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. content — happy
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. rest — what's left
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. content — the amount
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. land — to come down
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. land — ground
  24. rest — a break

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