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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: land · key · pop · ground · snap · game · shower · mine

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. snap — to click
  3. game — wild animals
  4. ground — crushed
  5. shower — to wash
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. key — for a lock
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. shower — rain
  11. pop — music
  12. ground — the earth
  13. game — a match
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. ground — a position
  16. land — a country
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. pop — soda
  19. mine — for digging
  20. key — in music
  21. land — ground
  22. key — the most important part
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. pop — to visit

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