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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 116 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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Word bank
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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. cap — a hat
  4. hand — in cards
  5. game — wild animals
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. land — a country
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. ball — a great time
  10. hand — help
  11. land — ground
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. cap — of ice
  16. ball — a dance
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. capital — money
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. capital — a city
  21. land — to come down
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cap — a lid
  24. hand — part of the body

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