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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. band — a music group
  4. wound — an injury
  5. game — wild animals
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. game — a match
  8. drill — the tool
  9. fork — in a road
  10. drill — army training
  11. band — a ring
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. clip — a video
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. prune — to trim
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — for paper
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. drill — a practice
  21. prune — to trim
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. wound — an injury
  24. fork — a garden tool

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