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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. land — ground
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. rash — hasty
  5. snap — to click
  6. shower — rain
  7. rash — a series
  8. land — a country
  9. swing — music
  10. land — to come down
  11. board — to get on
  12. board — a committee
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — a contest
  15. race — the arms race
  16. swing — to play on
  17. swing — in golf
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. shower — to wash
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. game — a match
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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