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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. snap — to click
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cap — of ice
  5. rush — hurry
  6. land — ground
  7. cap — a lid
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. land — to come down
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. row — a line
  15. branch — a division
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. bass — the fish
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. row — to paddle
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. cap — a hat
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bass — low music

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