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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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. kick — in football
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. row — a line
  6. rash — a series
  7. swing — to play on
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. date — the fruit
  11. scale — size or range
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. swing — in golf
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. game — a match
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. game — wild animals
  20. swing — music
  21. row — to paddle
  22. scale — in music
  23. rash — hasty
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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