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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 116 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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. game — a match
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. fall — the season
  6. hand — help
  7. march — music
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. ball — a great time
  10. hand — in cards
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — to drop
  13. march — the month
  14. wind — moving air
  15. game — wild animals
  16. wind — moving air
  17. march — the month
  18. ball — a round shape

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