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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 116 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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. game — a match
  5. net — after costs
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. game — wild animals
  8. spell — a short time
  9. clip — to cut
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. clip — for paper
  12. rule — a law
  13. land — ground
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. spell — magic
  16. squash — the sport
  17. fork — in a road
  18. clip — a video
  19. spell — letters
  20. land — a country
  21. net — for catching
  22. land — to come down
  23. squash — to crush
  24. net — in sport

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