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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. rest — what's left
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a match
  6. rest — a break
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. band — a music group
  9. row — a line
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. band — a ring
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. chip — for betting
  15. craft — boats
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. rest — what's left
  18. chip — to eat
  19. bat — the animal
  20. hand — help
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. row — to paddle
  24. craft — a skill

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