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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. staff — a stick
  3. land — to come down
  4. file — a tool
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. mine — for digging
  12. land — ground
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. file — a document
  15. land — a country
  16. staff — employees
  17. wound — an injury
  18. game — wild animals
  19. staff — employees
  20. file — a line of people
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. game — a match

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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