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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a match
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. mug — to rob
  7. staff — a stick
  8. mug — a face
  9. key — the most important part
  10. land — ground
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — an illness
  13. key — in music
  14. current — happening now
  15. key — for a lock
  16. staff — employees
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. current — electric
  19. current — of water
  20. mug — a cup
  21. land — to come down
  22. wound — an injury
  23. land — a country
  24. wound — an injury

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