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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. last — final
  3. craft — a skill
  4. spring — of water
  5. last — finally
  6. club — for golf
  7. rule — a law
  8. file — a document
  9. file — a tool
  10. club — a group
  11. land — to come down
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spring — the season
  14. land — a country
  15. club — for dancing
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. degree — an amount
  19. land — ground
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. craft — boats
  23. last — to go on
  24. file — a line of people

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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