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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 ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. march — the month
  5. scale — in music
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. game — a match
  8. game — wild animals
  9. last — finally
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. march — music
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. last — to go on
  15. march — the month
  16. last — final
  17. hand — in cards
  18. rush — hurry
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. scale — size or range
  22. root — the cause
  23. root — of a plant
  24. scale — for weighing

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