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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — magic
  4. swing — to play on
  5. ground — the earth
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. land — to come down
  9. face — to confront
  10. game — a match
  11. spell — a short time
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. face — part of the head
  14. swing — music
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. ground — crushed
  17. game — wild animals
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. ground — a position
  20. land — a country
  21. swing — in golf
  22. mine — for digging
  23. face — to point toward
  24. mine — belonging to me

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