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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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Word bank
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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. drill — army training
  5. drill — a practice
  6. land — ground
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. kid — to tease
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. land — a country
  11. kid — child
  12. land — to come down
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. rest — a break
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. rest — what's left
  17. rest — what's left
  18. chair — a leader
  19. row — to paddle
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — a contest
  23. drill — the tool
  24. game — a match

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