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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: ground · land · game · bass · tear · nail · snap · wound

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. snap — to click
  3. wound — an injury
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — the earth
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. land — to come down
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. land — ground
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bass — low music
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. bass — the fish
  19. wound — an injury
  20. tear — from crying
  21. game — a match
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. land — a country
  24. game — wild animals

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