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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: tear · rush · game · land · chair · pop · wound · mate

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. chair — a leader
  3. pop — to visit
  4. land — ground
  5. wound — an injury
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pop — music
  8. mate — to breed
  9. mate — a partner
  10. land — to come down
  11. pop — soda
  12. game — wild animals
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mate — a friend
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. land — a country
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wound — an injury
  23. tear — to rip
  24. rush — hurry

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