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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 120 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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. last — to go on
  5. bat — the animal
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. last — finally
  8. game — wild animals
  9. game — a match
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. row — to paddle
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. foot — a measure
  20. last — final
  21. ground — the earth
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. foot — part of the body
  24. ground — a position

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