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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. chip — to eat
  3. cold — not warm
  4. ball — a dance
  5. tear — to rip
  6. swing — music
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — from crying
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. saw — the tool
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. swing — in golf
  17. swing — to play on
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. saw — the tool
  21. chip — for betting
  22. branch — a division
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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