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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. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. game — a match
  4. bear — the animal
  5. cell — in biology
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. ball — a great time
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bark — to shout
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. cell — a phone
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. ball — a dance
  16. rule — government
  17. bat — the animal
  18. game — wild animals
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. rule — a law
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — in a prison

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