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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: fan · bat · temple · mine · land · sharp · row · rest

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. mine — for digging
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. bat — the animal
  5. land — ground
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. land — a country
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. rest — a break
  17. sharp — clever
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. row — a line
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. rest — what's left
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. rest — what's left

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