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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 was locked up in a ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. pitch — completely
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. perch — the fish
  8. stock — shares
  9. stock — goods
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. wax — to grow
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. cell — a phone
  14. land — a country
  15. file — a line of people
  16. chip — to eat
  17. chip — for betting
  18. file — a document
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. file — a tool
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. cell — in biology
  24. pitch — a sports field

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