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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: ruler · hand · mine · spell · chest · cold · land · nail

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. spell — a short time
  4. land — to come down
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chest — a box
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. mine — for digging
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. spell — letters
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. hand — help
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. land — ground
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. spell — magic
  21. hand — in cards
  22. chest — of your body
  23. land — a country
  24. ruler — for measuring

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