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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. tube — the underground
  3. spell — magic
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. bulb — for light
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. hand — help
  9. spell — letters
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. bulb — for light
  13. tube — a container
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. spell — a short time
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wind — moving air
  18. land — to come down
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. land — ground
  22. hand — in cards
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. wind — moving air

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