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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: nail · wind · net · ground · march · stem · mine · land

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. ground — crushed
  3. land — ground
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. land — a country
  6. march — the month
  7. mine — for digging
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. wind — moving air
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. ground — a position
  12. net — in sport
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. net — for catching
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. land — to come down
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. net — after costs
  20. wind — moving air
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. ground — the earth
  24. stem — to come from

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