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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. ground — a position
  4. pop — soda
  5. content — happy
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. rash — hasty
  8. pop — to visit
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. lie — to recline
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. content — the amount
  19. game — wild animals
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. ground — the earth
  22. pop — music
  23. rash — a series
  24. ground — crushed

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