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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. game — wild animals
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. spring — the season
  8. last — final
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. last — to go on
  12. spring — of water
  13. scale — size or range
  14. spring — a coil
  15. last — finally
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. row — to paddle
  19. scale — in music
  20. game — a match
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. row — a line

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