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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: wake · sharp · date · land · mine · bulb · tear · snap

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bulb — for light
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wake — a trail
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. tear — from crying
  11. land — to come down
  12. sharp — clever
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. date — the fruit
  17. bulb — for light
  18. tear — to rip
  19. land — ground
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. snap — to click
  23. tear — from crying
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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