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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. vault — in gymnastics
  3. kid — to tease
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. content — the amount
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. row — a line
  8. file — a tool
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. content — happy
  11. present — the time now
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. chip — for betting
  14. file — a document
  15. present — a gift
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. vault — a safe
  18. present — there
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. kid — child
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. file — a line of people

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