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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. pop — to visit
  3. stick — to attach or keep to
  4. prune — to trim
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. prune — to trim
  7. face — to point toward
  8. field — for sport
  9. row — a line
  10. pop — music
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. bat — the animal
  14. game — a match
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. row — to paddle
  17. field — a subject
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. face — part of the head
  20. game — wild animals
  21. field — farmland
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. pop — soda
  24. face — to confront

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