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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: plane · land · hand · clip · dip · mine · last · root

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. clip — a video
  5. dip — to sink
  6. last — final
  7. clip — to cut
  8. last — to go on
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. mine — for digging
  12. root — of a word
  13. last — finally
  14. land — ground
  15. clip — for paper
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. root — the cause
  18. land — a country
  19. hand — in cards
  20. land — to come down
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. plane — a tool
  24. root — of a plant

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