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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. bass — the fish
  3. drill — a practice
  4. drill — army training
  5. land — to come down
  6. tear — to rip
  7. degree — from a university
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. bass — low music
  11. tear — from crying
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. land — ground
  14. rule — government
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. tear — from crying
  18. degree — temperature
  19. land — a country
  20. drill — the tool
  21. game — a match
  22. game — wild animals
  23. date — the fruit
  24. rule — a law

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