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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. chip — to eat
  4. prune — to trim
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. file — a document
  13. wind — moving air
  14. file — a line of people
  15. chip — for betting
  16. cold — an illness
  17. file — a tool
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. prune — to trim
  20. band — a ring
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. cold — not warm
  24. band — a music group

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