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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. bass — the fish
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. land — to come down
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wake — a trail
  8. land — a country
  9. land — ground
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. capital — a city
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. game — a match
  18. present — a gift
  19. present — the time now
  20. game — wild animals
  21. capital — money
  22. bass — low music
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. wind — to turn a key

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