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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. pop — music
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pop — soda
  5. roll — a list
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. file — a line of people
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. game — wild animals
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cap — of ice
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pop — to visit
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cap — a lid
  16. cap — a hat
  17. roll — a cake
  18. game — a match
  19. file — a document
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. file — a tool
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. bat — for baseball

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