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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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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. squash — the sport
  3. key — for a lock
  4. cell — in biology
  5. squash — to crush
  6. key — in music
  7. game — a match
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. game — wild animals
  10. cell — a phone
  11. shower — rain
  12. key — the most important part
  13. shower — to wash
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. pitcher — in baseball

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