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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. game — wild animals
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. band — a music group
  5. land — a country
  6. scale — size or range
  7. spell — letters
  8. squash — the sport
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. squash — to crush
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. scale — in music
  13. object — to protest
  14. land — to come down
  15. spell — magic
  16. object — a thing
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. land — ground
  21. object — an aim
  22. spell — a short time
  23. wax — to grow
  24. game — a match

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