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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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. stock — goods
  3. last — final
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. last — finally
  7. prune — to trim
  8. kid — to tease
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. plane — a tool
  11. last — to go on
  12. prune — to trim
  13. file — a line of people
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. file — a tool
  19. stock — shares
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. file — a document
  22. chip — to eat
  23. chip — for betting
  24. prune — the fruit

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