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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. craft — a skill
  4. file — a document
  5. land — a country
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. bat — the animal
  8. game — wild animals
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. land — ground
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. content — the amount
  14. march — the month
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. march — the month
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. content — happy
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a line of people
  22. craft — boats
  23. land — to come down
  24. march — music

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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