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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.

Make a worksheet

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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. spring — of water
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. scale — size or range
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. rash — a series
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. march — music
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. game — wild animals
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. spring — a coil
  16. march — the month
  17. scale — in music
  18. game — a match
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. row — a line
  21. spring — the season
  22. march — the month
  23. rash — hasty
  24. row — to paddle

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