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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 120 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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. spring — of water
  4. ground — a position
  5. mine — for digging
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. land — ground
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. kid — to tease
  12. ground — crushed
  13. plane — a tool
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. ground — the earth
  16. kid — child
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. spring — the season
  20. land — a country
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — to paddle
  23. spring — a coil
  24. land — to come down

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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