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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. net — in sport
  4. net — for catching
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. spell — a short time
  7. capital — a city
  8. game — a match
  9. track — to keep track
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. capital — money
  13. spell — magic
  14. spell — letters
  15. track — a path
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. kid — to tease
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. net — after costs
  21. track — a song
  22. game — wild animals
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

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