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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. march — the month
  3. ball — a great time
  4. scale — in music
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. game — wild animals
  7. spring — the season
  8. ball — a dance
  9. spring — a coil
  10. march — the month
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. pound — a weight
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. game — a match
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. march — music
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. scale — size or range
  22. lie — to recline
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. spring — 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