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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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. cold — not warm
  3. squash — the sport
  4. land — a country
  5. game — wild animals
  6. squash — to crush
  7. bat — the animal
  8. land — ground
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. game — a match
  11. bound — obliged
  12. bound — tied together
  13. rest — what's left
  14. bound — certain
  15. rest — a break
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. land — to come down
  20. cold — an illness
  21. roll — a list
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. roll — a cake

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