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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wind — moving air
  4. spell — magic
  5. sharp — clever
  6. object — to protest
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. bear — the animal
  9. court — of a king
  10. object — a thing
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bear — the animal
  13. court — of law
  14. land — to come down
  15. wind — moving air
  16. land — a country
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. spell — a short time
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. object — an aim
  23. spell — letters
  24. court — for sport

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