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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. band — a music group
  3. game — a match
  4. tube — the underground
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. band — a ring
  7. stock — goods
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. mine — for digging
  10. game — wild animals
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. rash — hasty
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. stock — shares
  18. tube — a container
  19. land — a country
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. rash — a series
  23. land — ground
  24. rash — on the skin

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