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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. club — for golf
  3. charge — electricity
  4. race — a contest
  5. charge — a price
  6. tube — the underground
  7. clip — a video
  8. game — a match
  9. race — the arms race
  10. club — for dancing
  11. clip — for paper
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. fork — in a road
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. clip — to cut
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. tube — a container
  19. spell — magic
  20. spell — letters
  21. club — a group
  22. spell — a short time
  23. charge — in control
  24. race — humankind

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