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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 116 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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  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. squash — the sport
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. squash — to crush
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — a match
  7. net — in sport
  8. wound — an injury
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. ground — crushed
  11. net — after costs
  12. plane — a tool
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. ground — the earth
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. wound — an injury
  17. game — wild animals
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. ground — a position
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. branch — a division
  22. kid — to tease
  23. kid — child
  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