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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. row — a line
  4. present — a gift
  5. rest — a break
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. present — the time now
  9. row — to paddle
  10. rest — what's left
  11. track — to keep track
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. game — a match
  14. rest — what's left
  15. file — a line of people
  16. track — a path
  17. fork — in a road
  18. present — there
  19. track — a song
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. file — a document
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. file — a tool
  24. game — wild animals

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