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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. branch — a division
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. content — happy
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — wild animals
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. land — to come down
  11. content — the amount
  12. land — ground
  13. kid — child
  14. mine — for digging
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. board — to get on
  20. land — a country
  21. board — a committee
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. game — a match

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