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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 · mate · cell · tear · wake · pitch

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. land — a country
  3. cell — in biology
  4. wake — a trail
  5. tear — from crying
  6. mate — a partner
  7. tear — from crying
  8. land — ground
  9. mate — a friend
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. key — in music
  15. key — for a lock
  16. key — the most important part
  17. mate — to breed
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. land — to come down
  20. tear — to rip
  21. cell — a phone
  22. mine — for digging
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitch — a sports field

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