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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. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. last — final
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. pop — soda
  8. pop — music
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. kid — to tease
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. last — to go on
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. date — the fruit
  16. game — wild animals
  17. game — a match
  18. last — finally
  19. shower — rain
  20. pop — to visit
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. chip — to eat
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. kid — child

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