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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. game — a match
  4. mine — for digging
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cue — a hint
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cue — a signal
  9. cabinet — a cupboard
  10. wound — an injury
  11. hand — help
  12. file — a line of people
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. hand — in cards
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. file — a document
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. file — a tool
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. cue — for pool
  24. land — ground

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