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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. firm — steady
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spell — a short time
  6. spell — magic
  7. game — a match
  8. can — a tin
  9. firm — decided
  10. spell — letters
  11. can — a tin
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. pitch — a sales talk
  14. pitch — completely
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. firm — a company
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. game — wild animals
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. can — to be able to

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