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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. spell — letters
  3. mate — a friend
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. land — a country
  6. game — a match
  7. wind — moving air
  8. land — to come down
  9. face — part of the head
  10. land — ground
  11. root — of a word
  12. mate — to breed
  13. spell — magic
  14. game — wild animals
  15. mate — a partner
  16. face — to confront
  17. wind — moving air
  18. spell — a short time
  19. track — to keep track
  20. root — the cause
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. face — to point toward
  23. track — a path
  24. root — of a plant

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