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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 120 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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. land — ground
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. row — a line
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. hand — in cards
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. fork — in a road
  15. rule — a law
  16. hand — help
  17. rule — government
  18. game — wild animals
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. game — a match
  22. land — a country
  23. row — to paddle
  24. game — a kind of play

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