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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. last — finally
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. pit — a hole
  6. chest — of your body
  7. game — wild animals
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — final
  10. spring — a coil
  11. chest — of your body
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — size or range
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — employees
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. spring — the season
  20. chest — a box
  21. pit — in a race
  22. staff — a stick
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. spring — of water

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