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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. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. tube — in a tire
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spring — the season
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rest — what's left
  8. march — the month
  9. tube — a container
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. tube — the underground
  13. spring — of water
  14. rest — a break
  15. rest — what's left
  16. land — ground
  17. land — to come down
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. march — the month
  20. spring — a coil
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. march — music
  23. kid — to tease
  24. rash — a series

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