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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. chest — of your body
  4. net — in sport
  5. chest — of your body
  6. swing — to play on
  7. net — for catching
  8. swing — in golf
  9. game — wild animals
  10. band — a ring
  11. chest — a box
  12. swing — music
  13. game — a match
  14. wind — moving air
  15. ground — a position
  16. band — a music group
  17. staff — employees
  18. staff — employees
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. ground — the earth
  21. net — after costs
  22. ground — crushed
  23. wind — moving air
  24. staff — a stick

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