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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. last — final
  4. root — of a word
  5. file — a document
  6. last — to go on
  7. game — wild animals
  8. root — the cause
  9. pop — music
  10. file — a tool
  11. prune — to trim
  12. file — a line of people
  13. pop — soda
  14. row — a line
  15. game — a match
  16. root — of a plant
  17. row — to paddle
  18. prune — to trim
  19. last — finally
  20. bat — the animal
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. pop — to visit

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