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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. game — wild animals
  3. root — of a plant
  4. ground — crushed
  5. file — a tool
  6. game — a match
  7. root — of a word
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. stem — to come from
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. ground — the earth
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. root — the cause
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. file — a document
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. file — a line of people
  23. bat — the animal
  24. ground — a position

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