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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: land · wound · squash · ground · chair · game · snap · cap

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. squash — the sport
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. cap — a lid
  5. squash — to crush
  6. land — ground
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cap — of ice
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. ground — the earth
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cap — a hat
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. chair — a leader
  17. game — a match
  18. ground — a position
  19. land — a country
  20. wound — an injury
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. land — to come down
  24. snap — to click

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