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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 120 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. game — a match
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. band — a music group
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. land — a country
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. rush — hurry
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. capital — money
  15. capital — a city
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. band — a ring
  18. land — to come down
  19. ground — the earth
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. ground — a position
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. ground — crushed

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