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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. ball — a great time
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. ground — the earth
  6. capital — money
  7. mine — for digging
  8. field — a subject
  9. ground — crushed
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. land — ground
  12. ball — a dance
  13. field — farmland
  14. ground — a position
  15. capital — a city
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. land — to come down
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. land — a country
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. bulb — for light
  23. field — for sport
  24. game — wild animals

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