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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 120 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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. spell — magic
  7. capital — money
  8. hand — help
  9. spell — a short time
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bat — the animal
  14. capital — a city
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. chip — to eat
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. dip — to sink
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. spell — letters
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. chip — for betting

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