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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: mine · land · key · rule · drill · chest · hand · cell

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. land — a country
  3. land — ground
  4. rule — a law
  5. land — to come down
  6. mine — for digging
  7. drill — army training
  8. key — the most important part
  9. drill — a practice
  10. hand — help
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. rule — government
  14. drill — the tool
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cell — a phone
  18. hand — in cards
  19. key — for a lock
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. key — in music
  22. cell — in biology
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — of your body

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