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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. land — a country
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. key — in music
  7. key — the most important part
  8. key — for a lock
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cell — a phone
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. file — a document
  15. chip — for betting
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. cold — an illness
  18. calf — of the leg
  19. land — to come down
  20. land — ground
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cold — not warm
  23. file — a tool
  24. chip — to eat

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