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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: lie · branch · land · rush · chest · shower · mate · wind

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. rush — hurry
  3. mate — a friend
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. mate — a partner
  6. land — to come down
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. mate — to breed
  9. wind — moving air
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. shower — to wash
  12. chest — of your body
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. chest — a box
  15. chest — of your body
  16. land — ground
  17. branch — a division
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. wind — moving air
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. lie — to recline
  24. shower — rain

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