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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 116 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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. craft — a skill
  3. land — a country
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. land — ground
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. ground — crushed
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. fine — all right
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. hand — in cards
  13. craft — boats
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. ground — the earth
  18. game — wild animals
  19. capital — a city
  20. ground — a position
  21. fine — high quality
  22. land — to come down
  23. capital — money
  24. game — a match

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