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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 116 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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. capital — a city
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. mine — for digging
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. land — ground
  12. capital — money
  13. sharp — clever
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. rule — a law
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. land — a country
  20. shower — rain
  21. rule — government
  22. shower — to wash
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wound — an injury

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