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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. rule — government
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bass — low music
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. date — the fruit
  11. rule — a law
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. game — wild animals
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. bass — the fish
  17. degree — temperature
  18. band — a music group
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. degree — from a university
  21. band — a ring
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. game — a match
  24. straw — dry grass

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