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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. kid — to tease
  3. roll — a cake
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. land — a country
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. land — to come down
  8. track — a song
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. land — ground
  11. chip — for betting
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. spell — magic
  14. wind — moving air
  15. snap — to click
  16. kid — child
  17. chip — to eat
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. spell — letters
  20. track — a path
  21. roll — a list
  22. spell — a short time
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. track — to keep track

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