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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cell — a phone
  3. land — a country
  4. spring — a coil
  5. cell — in biology
  6. spring — of water
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. land — to come down
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. clip — for paper
  11. band — a ring
  12. band — a music group
  13. clip — a video
  14. rule — government
  15. rule — a law
  16. clip — to cut
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. spring — the season
  22. hand — help
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. hand — in cards

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