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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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Word bank
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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: rock · hand · land · track · cell · ground · leaves · wake

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. land — ground
  3. ground — the earth
  4. track — a path
  5. ground — crushed
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. track — a song
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. land — to come down
  11. rock — a stone
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. rock — music
  14. land — a country
  15. wake — a trail
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. cell — a phone
  19. track — to keep track
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. ground — a position
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — in biology
  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