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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. cold — not warm
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cue — a signal
  5. spring — the season
  6. bark — to shout
  7. land — ground
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. spring — a coil
  12. cue — a hint
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. cue — for pool
  17. spring — of water
  18. land — to come down
  19. kick — in football
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. game — a match
  24. game — wild animals

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