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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: saw · land · fall · shower · toast · chair · rest · clip

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. rest — what's left
  5. chair — a leader
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. rest — what's left
  8. saw — the tool
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. land — to come down
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. fall — to drop
  13. clip — to cut
  14. clip — for paper
  15. toast — bread
  16. toast — the most admired
  17. shower — rain
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. saw — the tool
  21. clip — a video
  22. rest — a break
  23. land — a country
  24. chair — a professorship

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