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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 116 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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. game — a match
  3. rest — a break
  4. game — wild animals
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. land — ground
  7. band — a music group
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. rest — what's left
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. last — to go on
  12. stock — goods
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. perch — the fish
  15. land — a country
  16. land — to come down
  17. rest — what's left
  18. stock — shares
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. last — final
  22. band — a ring
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. perch — for a bird

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