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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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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. rule — government
  4. chair — a leader
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. field — for sport
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. game — a match
  12. shower — rain
  13. tear — from crying
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. game — wild animals
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. tear — to rip
  18. hand — in cards
  19. field — farmland
  20. hand — help
  21. shower — to wash
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. field — a subject
  24. rule — to rule out

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