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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 116 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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. drill — army training
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. shower — to wash
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. saw — the tool
  9. present — there
  10. drill — a practice
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. present — a gift
  13. saw — the tool
  14. present — the time now
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. drill — the tool
  19. shower — rain
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. field — for sport
  22. hand — help
  23. game — a match
  24. game — wild animals

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