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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. game — wild animals
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. staff — employees
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. scale — in music
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. file — a line of people
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. file — a document
  13. game — a match
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. scale — size or range
  16. staff — employees
  17. court — of law
  18. file — a tool
  19. staff — a stick
  20. court — for sport
  21. cold — an illness
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. court — of a king
  24. cold — not warm

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