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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. mate — a friend
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. chip — to eat
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. field — a subject
  13. mate — to breed
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. rule — a law
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chip — for betting
  18. rule — government
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — for sport
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. shower — rain
  23. mate — a partner
  24. shower — to wash

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