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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — finally
  4. mark — a grade
  5. cold — an illness
  6. mark — a trace
  7. scale — size or range
  8. chip — to eat
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. last — to go on
  14. snap — to click
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. band — a ring
  17. band — a music group
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. scale — in music
  21. game — a match
  22. game — wild animals
  23. last — final
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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