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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. pitch — completely
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. shower — to wash
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. date — the fruit
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. game — a match
  14. shower — rain
  15. plane — a tool
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. game — wild animals
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. stem — to come from

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