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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: kid · band · ground · game · face · mine · ball · row

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. face — part of the head
  6. ground — the earth
  7. kid — child
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ground — a position
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. row — a line
  13. row — to paddle
  14. face — to confront
  15. band — a music group
  16. ball — a great time
  17. ground — crushed
  18. game — a match
  19. kid — to tease
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. band — a ring
  22. face — to point toward
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. mine — for digging

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