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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chair · mine · bass · racket · pit · land · cold · fan

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. land — ground
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. cold — not warm
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. chair — a leader
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. pit — a hole
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. pit — in a race
  12. land — a country
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. bass — low music
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mine — for digging
  18. bass — the fish
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. racket — a loud noise
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. land — to come down

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