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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. rule — government
  3. charge — electricity
  4. pop — soda
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. pop — music
  7. row — to paddle
  8. rule — a law
  9. wind — moving air
  10. row — a line
  11. game — wild animals
  12. pop — to visit
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. wind — moving air
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. game — a match
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. hand — help
  19. capital — money
  20. hand — in cards
  21. charge — a price
  22. charge — in control
  23. capital — a city
  24. row — a quarrel

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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