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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. toast — bread
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. land — a country
  5. land — to come down
  6. bulb — for light
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kid — to tease
  12. bulb — for light
  13. rule — government
  14. field — for sport
  15. cell — in biology
  16. rule — a law
  17. cold — not warm
  18. kid — child
  19. field — a subject
  20. land — ground
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. field — farmland
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. rule — to rule out

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