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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: hand · sharp · mine · ground · fall · wound · spell · land

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. hand — in cards
  3. fall — to drop
  4. spell — letters
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. fall — the season
  7. spell — magic
  8. land — a country
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. ground — the earth
  11. mine — for digging
  12. sharp — clever
  13. hand — help
  14. spell — a short time
  15. ground — a position
  16. ground — crushed
  17. wound — an injury
  18. fall — to drop
  19. wound — an injury
  20. land — ground
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. land — to come down
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. mine — an explosive

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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