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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. capital — a city
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. sharp — clever
  5. chip — to eat
  6. chest — of your body
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. race — humankind
  11. capital — money
  12. file — a tool
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. ball — a dance
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. file — a document
  19. race — the arms race
  20. chest — a box
  21. ball — a great time
  22. file — a line of people
  23. clip — to cut
  24. race — a contest

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