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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. root — of a plant
  3. swing — music
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. saw — the tool
  6. land — ground
  7. land — a country
  8. mine — for digging
  9. toast — the most admired
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. game — wild animals
  12. saw — the tool
  13. land — to come down
  14. hand — help
  15. root — of a word
  16. hand — in cards
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. swing — to play on
  19. game — a match
  20. swing — in golf
  21. root — the cause
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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