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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. bound — certain
  3. bound — obliged
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. file — a tool
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a match
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. rash — hasty
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. spell — letters
  12. file — a line of people
  13. mate — to breed
  14. file — a document
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. spell — a short time
  19. mate — a friend
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. bound — tied together
  22. rash — a series
  23. spell — magic
  24. mate — a partner

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