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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. roll — a list
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. file — a line of people
  5. game — wild animals
  6. file — a document
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. foot — a measure
  12. file — a tool
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. pit — a hole
  15. game — a match
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. roll — a cake
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. pit — in a race
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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