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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chip — for betting
  5. file — a document
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. dip — to sink
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. chip — to eat
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. file — a tool
  17. pit — a hole
  18. pit — in a race
  19. field — for sport
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. field — farmland
  22. field — a subject
  23. file — a line of people
  24. chip — in a computer

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