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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. cap — a lid
  3. row — to paddle
  4. cap — a hat
  5. hand — help
  6. present — the time now
  7. net — after costs
  8. net — in sport
  9. chip — for betting
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a document
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. file — a tool
  15. net — for catching
  16. ground — a position
  17. chip — to eat
  18. ground — crushed
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cap — of ice
  21. present — a gift
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. row — a line
  24. ground — the earth

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