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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: cell · land · ground · kid · rush · spell · wind · snap

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. spell — a short time
  4. cell — in biology
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. ground — crushed
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. kid — to tease
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. snap — to click
  13. land — a country
  14. spell — letters
  15. land — to come down
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. cell — a phone
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — moving air
  20. spell — magic
  21. land — ground
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ground — a position
  24. kid — child

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