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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. file — a document
  5. band — a music group
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. land — a country
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — the season
  10. file — a line of people
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. game — wild animals
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. band — a ring
  17. file — a tool
  18. sharp — clever
  19. game — a match
  20. spring — of water
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. land — to come down
  23. scale — in music
  24. land — ground

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