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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chip — to eat
  3. court — of law
  4. saw — the tool
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — an illness
  7. track — a path
  8. chip — for betting
  9. branch — a division
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. wound — an injury
  17. prune — to trim
  18. court — for sport
  19. track — to keep track
  20. court — of a king
  21. saw — the tool
  22. track — a song
  23. prune — to trim
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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