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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wound — an injury
  5. game — a match
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. game — wild animals
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. bass — the fish
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. wound — an injury
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. stand — to bear
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. scale — size or range
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. scale — in music
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. bass — low music

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