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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wind — moving air
  3. chip — to eat
  4. date — the fruit
  5. sharp — clever
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. object — to protest
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. object — an aim
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. hand — in cards
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. ball — a dance
  16. hand — help
  17. wind — moving air
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. object — a thing
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. bat — the animal
  24. chip — for betting

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