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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. ground — crushed
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. game — a match
  8. cell — a phone
  9. sharp — clever
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. chip — for betting
  12. chip — to eat
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mine — for digging
  15. ground — the earth
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. game — wild animals
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. ground — a position
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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