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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. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. bank — for money
  4. press — a publisher
  5. cold — not warm
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. press — newspapers
  9. degree — temperature
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. file — a tool
  12. cold — an illness
  13. bank — of a river
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. chip — to eat
  16. fork — in a road
  17. bank — for money
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. press — to push
  20. stock — shares
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a document
  24. stock — goods

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