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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. net — for catching
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. clip — to cut
  7. kid — child
  8. kid — to tease
  9. press — newspapers
  10. bat — the animal
  11. chip — for betting
  12. clip — a video
  13. net — in sport
  14. net — after costs
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. press — a publisher
  18. chip — to eat
  19. saw — the tool
  20. clip — for paper
  21. game — a match
  22. press — to push
  23. saw — the tool
  24. bat — in an idiom

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