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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. last — finally
  3. last — final
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. game — wild animals
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — to go on
  10. rock — music
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. cell — in biology
  14. spell — letters
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spell — magic
  17. cell — a phone
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. rock — a stone
  20. cold — not warm
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. game — a match
  23. fine — all right
  24. fine — high quality

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