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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. wound — an injury
  3. spell — a short time
  4. fine — all right
  5. wound — an injury
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. fine — high quality
  8. spell — magic
  9. key — in music
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. key — the most important part
  12. hand — in cards
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. snap — to click
  16. pitch — completely
  17. game — a match
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. hand — help
  21. key — for a lock
  22. spell — letters
  23. game — wild animals
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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