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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. The tickets are free of ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. chip — for betting
  3. chest — a box
  4. bear — the animal
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. charge — in control
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. cold — not warm
  10. chest — of your body
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bat — the animal
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. chip — to eat
  19. bear — the animal
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. branch — a division
  23. charge — a price
  24. chip — in a computer

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