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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. degree — temperature
  3. last — final
  4. mug — to rob
  5. spring — a coil
  6. swing — to play on
  7. degree — from a university
  8. spring — of water
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. land — to come down
  12. ground — the earth
  13. degree — an amount
  14. mug — a cup
  15. ground — crushed
  16. last — finally
  17. mug — a face
  18. spring — the season
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. ground — a position
  21. last — to go on
  22. swing — in golf
  23. swing — music
  24. land — ground

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