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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. ground — the earth
  3. game — wild animals
  4. key — the most important part
  5. bat — the animal
  6. prune — to trim
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. ground — a position
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. wind — moving air
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. net — after costs
  17. ground — crushed
  18. key — in music
  19. key — for a lock
  20. game — a match
  21. net — in sport
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. wind — moving air
  24. net — for catching

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