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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  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. key — the most important part
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. prune — to trim
  5. stock — shares
  6. spell — magic
  7. key — for a lock
  8. file — a document
  9. spell — a short time
  10. key — in music
  11. spell — letters
  12. fall — to drop
  13. file — a line of people
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — the season
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. file — a tool
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. stock — goods
  23. chip — to eat
  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