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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 120 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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fall · game · bat · branch · file · spell · land · wave

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. branch — a division
  4. land — ground
  5. game — wild animals
  6. file — a document
  7. spell — letters
  8. file — a tool
  9. land — a country
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. game — a match
  12. bat — the animal
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. file — a line of people
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. fall — the season
  17. spell — magic
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. fall — to drop
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. spell — a short time
  24. fall — to drop

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