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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's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. land — to come down
  3. game — a match
  4. snap — to click
  5. game — wild animals
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. land — a country
  9. face — to confront
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. fork — in a road
  12. saw — the tool
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. net — after costs
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. net — for catching
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. face — to point toward
  19. net — in sport
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. saw — the tool
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. face — part of the head
  24. land — ground

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