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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. present — the time now
  4. scale — size or range
  5. ground — a position
  6. present — there
  7. prune — to trim
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. ground — the earth
  11. ground — crushed
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. prune — to trim
  14. present — a gift
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. wake — a trail
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. game — wild animals
  19. shower — to wash
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. branch — a division
  22. game — a match
  23. shower — rain
  24. scale — in music

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