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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: scale · last · file · field · snap · game · capital · mine

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. scale — in music
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. field — for sport
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. last — to go on
  8. file — a document
  9. capital — money
  10. scale — size or range
  11. capital — a city
  12. last — final
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. game — wild animals
  16. snap — to click
  17. file — a tool
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. mine — for digging
  20. field — farmland
  21. file — a line of people
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. last — finally
  24. field — a subject

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