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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. mug — a face
  3. kid — child
  4. kid — to tease
  5. file — a tool
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. spring — a coil
  8. game — a match
  9. spring — the season
  10. mug — to rob
  11. game — wild animals
  12. scale — size or range
  13. mug — a cup
  14. prune — to trim
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. file — a document
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. file — a line of people
  20. scale — in music
  21. rock — a stone
  22. rock — music
  23. spring — of water
  24. prune — to trim

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