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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: wind · dip · spell · kid · rest · saw · ground · game

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spell — letters
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. wind — moving air
  6. spell — magic
  7. game — wild animals
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. ground — crushed
  11. rest — what's left
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. rest — a break
  14. rest — what's left
  15. saw — the tool
  16. game — a match
  17. ground — a position
  18. kid — to tease
  19. dip — to sink
  20. spell — a short time
  21. ground — the earth
  22. kid — child
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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