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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. stem — to come from
  3. land — a country
  4. fine — high quality
  5. land — to come down
  6. scale — size or range
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. cold — an illness
  10. land — ground
  11. fine — all right
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. ground — the earth
  19. scale — in music
  20. ground — crushed
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. ground — a position

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