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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.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. capital — a city
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. chip — for betting
  6. mate — a friend
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. mate — a partner
  9. snap — to click
  10. scale — size or range
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — money
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bound — certain
  17. bound — obliged
  18. tear — to rip
  19. scale — in music
  20. mate — to breed
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. capital — a big letter

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