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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 120 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: last · land · spring · calf · fall · nail · game · chest

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. land — ground
  3. land — a country
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. spring — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. spring — of water
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fall — the season
  11. last — to go on
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. spring — a coil
  16. land — to come down
  17. last — final
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. game — wild animals
  20. last — finally
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. game — a match
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. calf — of the leg

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