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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. degree — an amount
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. land — to come down
  5. lean — to bend
  6. lean — thin
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. rule — a law
  12. land — a country
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. clip — a video
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bat — the animal
  19. degree — from a university
  20. degree — temperature
  21. land — ground
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. bulb — for light
  24. rule — to rule out

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