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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. rash — hasty
  3. ground — the earth
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. mine — for digging
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. squash — to crush
  8. band — a ring
  9. ground — a position
  10. march — the month
  11. rash — a series
  12. ground — crushed
  13. game — a match
  14. chest — a box
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. march — music
  19. band — a music group
  20. march — the month
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. game — wild animals
  23. squash — the sport
  24. game — a kind of play

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