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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 120 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. file — a line of people
  3. band — a music group
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. race — humankind
  6. band — a ring
  7. squash — the sport
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. mine — for digging
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. race — a contest
  12. current — electric
  13. file — a tool
  14. squash — to crush
  15. race — the arms race
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. perch — the fish
  19. current — happening now
  20. game — wild animals
  21. current — of water
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. file — a document

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