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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. craft — boats
  3. game — a match
  4. rule — government
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. craft — a skill
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cold — an illness
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. season — in sport
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. game — wild animals
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. season — of the year
  22. pitch — completely
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. season — to add flavour

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