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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. land — a country
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. march — the month
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. march — music
  9. shower — rain
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. game — wild animals
  12. wake — a trail
  13. scale — in music
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. land — ground
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. land — to come down
  19. march — the month
  20. game — a match
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. hand — help
  23. scale — size or range
  24. shower — to wash

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