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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. land — ground
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. rule — a law
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wind — moving air
  8. land — to come down
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. rule — government
  13. rest — what's left
  14. kid — child
  15. rest — a break
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wind — moving air
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. cell — in biology
  22. land — a country
  23. rest — what's left
  24. stem — to come from

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