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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: cabinet · spell · kid · rash · ground · content · game · object

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  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. game — a kind of play
  2. rash — hasty
  3. game — a match
  4. kid — to tease
  5. object — to protest
  6. spell — letters
  7. spell — magic
  8. object — a thing
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. content — happy
  11. ground — the earth
  12. spell — a short time
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. game — wild animals
  16. object — an aim
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. ground — crushed
  20. ground — a position
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. rash — a series
  23. content — the amount
  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