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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. chair — a leader
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. stock — shares
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. bass — low music
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. land — a country
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. game — wild animals
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. stock — goods
  20. bass — the fish
  21. land — to come down
  22. bat — the animal
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. game — a match

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