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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 116 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. kid — to tease
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. clip — a video
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. land — to come down
  11. clip — for paper
  12. kid — child
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bear — the animal
  15. land — a country
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. chip — for betting
  19. land — ground
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. clip — to cut
  24. chip — to eat

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