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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. key — for a lock
  3. rest — what's left
  4. game — a match
  5. net — after costs
  6. drill — a practice
  7. key — the most important part
  8. clip — a video
  9. key — in music
  10. drill — the tool
  11. rest — what's left
  12. drill — army training
  13. clip — to cut
  14. rest — a break
  15. net — in sport
  16. clip — for paper
  17. net — for catching
  18. game — a kind of play

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