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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. snap — to click
  3. rest — what's left
  4. rest — what's left
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. land — ground
  7. branch — a division
  8. land — a country
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. game — a match
  11. rest — a break
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. land — to come down
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. mine — for digging

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