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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. chip — to eat
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. race — humankind
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — a subject
  10. chip — for betting
  11. branch — a division
  12. squash — the sport
  13. squash — to crush
  14. clip — a video
  15. spring — the season
  16. field — for sport
  17. clip — to cut
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. race — the arms race
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. spring — a coil
  22. race — a contest
  23. spring — of water
  24. vault — a safe

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