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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 124 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. game — wild animals
  4. wound — an injury
  5. game — a match
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pass — a permit
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. pass — to spend time
  11. field — a subject
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. band — a music group
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. field — for sport
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. field — farmland
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. band — a ring
  23. vault — a safe
  24. wound — an injury

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