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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. When will it ________________ you to start?
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. fall — to drop
  3. tube — a container
  4. game — a match
  5. court — of law
  6. root — of a word
  7. suit — in cards
  8. court — for sport
  9. fall — the season
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. tube — the underground
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. suit — to fit
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. land — to come down
  16. saw — the tool
  17. fall — to drop
  18. root — the cause
  19. game — wild animals
  20. land — a country
  21. saw — the tool
  22. suit — clothes
  23. court — of a king
  24. root — of a plant

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