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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. net — for catching
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. land — to come down
  6. rush — hurry
  7. land — ground
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. net — after costs
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. game — a match
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. net — in sport
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. tear — from crying
  16. game — wild animals
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. tear — to rip
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. stock — goods
  22. stock — shares
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. land — a country

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