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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 120 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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. shower — to wash
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. squash — the sport
  5. game — wild animals
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. cap — a lid
  8. chest — of your body
  9. game — a match
  10. squash — to crush
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. track — a path
  13. ball — a great time
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. chest — of your body
  16. cap — of ice
  17. shower — rain
  18. cap — a hat
  19. track — a song
  20. track — to keep track
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. fork — in a road
  23. chest — a box
  24. fork — to eat with

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