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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  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. row — a line
  2. spell — magic
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. spell — letters
  5. scale — size or range
  6. rule — a law
  7. game — a match
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. band — a music group
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. row — to paddle
  12. rule — government
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chip — to eat
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. field — a subject
  18. chip — for betting
  19. field — for sport
  20. band — a ring
  21. spell — a short time
  22. field — farmland
  23. scale — in music
  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