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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. land — a country
  4. hand — in cards
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. kid — to tease
  7. land — ground
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. court — for sport
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. board — a committee
  15. prune — to trim
  16. hand — help
  17. wake — a trail
  18. land — to come down
  19. court — of a king
  20. board — to get on
  21. game — wild animals
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. kid — child
  24. court — of law

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