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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 124 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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. spell — a short time
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spell — letters
  6. fall — the season
  7. spell — magic
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chest — a box
  10. land — a country
  11. land — ground
  12. chest — of your body
  13. land — to come down
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bank — for money
  16. fall — to drop
  17. rule — government
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. fall — to drop
  21. bank — for money
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bank — of a river
  24. chest — of your body

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