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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. bear — the animal
  5. bear — the animal
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. roll — a list
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. bark — to shout
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. land — ground
  13. roll — a cake
  14. mine — for digging
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. cold — not warm
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. land — to come down
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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