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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. club — a group
  3. game — a match
  4. season — of the year
  5. game — wild animals
  6. sharp — clever
  7. club — for dancing
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. spring — of water
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. season — in sport
  14. spring — the season
  15. club — for golf
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. spring — a coil
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. wind — moving air
  23. date — the fruit
  24. date — on the calendar

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