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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. kid — child
  3. land — a country
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. kid — to tease
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. land — to come down
  12. game — a match
  13. mine — for digging
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a music group
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. land — ground
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. patient — a sick person

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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