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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. charge — electricity
  3. spell — magic
  4. spell — letters
  5. hand — help
  6. charge — in control
  7. game — a match
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. hand — in cards
  10. bound — certain
  11. mine — for digging
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — a short time
  14. bound — tied together
  15. current — happening now
  16. bound — obliged
  17. current — electric
  18. charge — a price
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. cold — not warm
  22. game — wild animals
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. current — of water

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