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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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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: race · kid · ground · face · spell · rash · spring · game

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — magic
  4. rash — hasty
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — a position
  7. face — to point toward
  8. race — the arms race
  9. kid — to tease
  10. race — humankind
  11. spring — the season
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. face — to confront
  14. spell — a short time
  15. game — a match
  16. spring — a coil
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. race — a contest
  19. face — part of the head
  20. game — wild animals
  21. rash — a series
  22. spring — of water
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

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