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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. tear — to rip
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rock — music
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. rock — a stone
  9. chest — of your body
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chest — a box
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. game — wild animals
  14. tear — from crying
  15. key — for a lock
  16. game — a match
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — the animal
  19. march — the month
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. key — in music
  22. key — the most important part
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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