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

Word bank: nail · land · kid · racket · rule · cell

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cell — a phone
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. land — ground
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. rule — government
  11. rule — a law
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. cell — in biology
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. land — to come down
  17. kid — child
  18. land — a country

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