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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. wound — an injury
  4. key — for a lock
  5. key — in music
  6. rush — hurry
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. scale — size or range
  9. key — the most important part
  10. game — a match
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — humankind
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. scale — in music
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. game — wild animals
  23. wound — an injury
  24. ball — a great time

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