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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  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. march — the month
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. land — a country
  5. saw — the tool
  6. chest — a box
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. rule — government
  9. saw — the tool
  10. tube — the underground
  11. march — the month
  12. chest — of your body
  13. land — to come down
  14. cold — not warm
  15. tube — a container
  16. cold — an illness
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. chest — of your body
  19. rule — a law
  20. kick — in football
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. march — music
  23. rule — to rule out
  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