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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. rash — hasty
  3. band — a ring
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. band — a music group
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. game — a match
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. mine — for digging
  12. squash — to crush
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. date — the fruit
  15. bulb — for light
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. game — wild animals
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. bulb — for light
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. rash — a series

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