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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: mine · cold · squash · lie · deal · clip · bowl · land

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. land — a country
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. deal — to handle
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. clip — a video
  12. squash — the sport
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — for digging
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. land — ground
  18. lie — to recline
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. squash — to crush
  21. clip — to cut
  22. land — to come down
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. lie — an untruth

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