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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. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. staff — employees
  3. season — in sport
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. file — a tool
  6. season — of the year
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. root — of a plant
  9. last — to go on
  10. last — final
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a match
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. wound — an injury
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a line of people
  17. root — of a word
  18. staff — employees
  19. last — finally
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. root — the cause
  23. wound — an injury
  24. game — a kind of play

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