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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. board — to get on
  4. land — to come down
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — a position
  7. ground — the earth
  8. chip — for betting
  9. land — ground
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bound — certain
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chip — to eat
  14. bound — obliged
  15. game — wild animals
  16. board — a committee
  17. game — a match
  18. bound — tied together
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. prune — to trim
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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