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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · cell · kid · wave · march · rest

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. rest — a break
  3. cell — a phone
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. kid — to tease
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. march — the month
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. march — the month
  11. rest — what's left
  12. land — to come down
  13. kid — child
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. land — ground
  16. rest — what's left
  17. cell — in biology
  18. march — 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