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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. bat — the animal
  4. ground — a position
  5. wind — moving air
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. race — the arms race
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. game — wild animals
  13. craft — boats
  14. game — a match
  15. race — a contest
  16. wind — moving air
  17. race — humankind
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. ground — the earth
  20. ground — crushed
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. mine — for digging
  23. snap — to click
  24. craft — a skill

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