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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. scale — in music
  4. fall — to drop
  5. race — a contest
  6. race — the arms race
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. scale — size or range
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bound — certain
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. fall — the season
  15. game — a match
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bound — tied together
  18. race — humankind
  19. mine — for digging
  20. clip — for paper
  21. game — wild animals
  22. clip — to cut
  23. clip — a video
  24. patient — a sick person

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