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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. band — a music group
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. spring — the season
  8. pound — a weight
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. saw — the tool
  12. game — a match
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. spring — a coil
  17. saw — the tool
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. spring — of water
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. band — a ring
  22. game — wild animals
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. game — a kind of play

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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