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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 116 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. charge — electricity
  3. hand — help
  4. cold — an illness
  5. game — a match
  6. root — of a word
  7. snap — to click
  8. cold — not warm
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. march — music
  12. charge — in control
  13. game — wild animals
  14. root — the cause
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. charge — a price
  17. root — of a plant
  18. march — the month
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. march — the month
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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