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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. land — ground
  3. scale — in music
  4. land — a country
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. hand — help
  7. land — to come down
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. bat — the animal
  11. hand — in cards
  12. rule — government
  13. perch — the fish
  14. scale — size or range
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. snap — to click
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. rule — a law
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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