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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: spring · fan · scale · land · sharp · rule · cell · mine

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. land — to come down
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. land — ground
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cell — a phone
  11. spring — of water
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. rule — government
  15. spring — the season
  16. mine — for digging
  17. scale — in music
  18. scale — size or range
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. sharp — clever
  21. rule — a law
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. spring — a coil

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