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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 116 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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. capital — a city
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. sharp — clever
  7. capital — money
  8. ground — crushed
  9. land — a country
  10. ground — a position
  11. pitch — completely
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. game — a match
  14. land — to come down
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. land — ground
  17. stock — shares
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. stock — goods
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. ground — the earth
  24. game — wild animals

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