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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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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. game — a match
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. row — a line
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. chip — to eat
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. bat — the animal
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. dip — to sink
  19. game — wild animals
  20. chip — for betting
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. row — to paddle
  23. branch — a division
  24. fall — the season

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