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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. lean — thin
  5. field — a subject
  6. hand — in cards
  7. land — to come down
  8. bore — to drill
  9. wound — an injury
  10. swing — in golf
  11. swing — to play on
  12. land — a country
  13. wound — an injury
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. lean — to bend
  16. swing — music
  17. hand — help
  18. mine — for digging
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. field — farmland
  22. bore — to tire
  23. field — for sport
  24. mine — belonging to me

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