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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: face · cold · racket · bulb · rock · mine · cell · game

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. face — to point toward
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. rock — music
  12. rock — a stone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. bulb — for light
  15. mine — for digging
  16. face — to confront
  17. bulb — for light
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. game — a match
  21. cell — a phone
  22. face — part of the head
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — wild animals

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