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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. bat — the animal
  3. rash — a series
  4. season — in sport
  5. land — a country
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. land — to come down
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. sharp — clever
  11. rash — hasty
  12. firm — a company
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — an injury
  16. firm — steady
  17. firm — decided
  18. land — ground
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. mine — for digging
  23. season — of the year
  24. sharp — exactly

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