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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spring — the season
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. chip — to eat
  5. net — after costs
  6. clip — to cut
  7. chest — a box
  8. current — happening now
  9. chip — for betting
  10. spring — a coil
  11. clip — a video
  12. chest — of your body
  13. current — electric
  14. clip — for paper
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. net — for catching
  17. net — in sport
  18. spring — of water
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. game — wild animals
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. game — a match
  24. current — of water

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