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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. field — for sport
  3. bat — the animal
  4. hand — help
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. shower — rain
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. shower — to wash
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. field — a subject
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. field — farmland
  21. fine — high quality
  22. fine — all right
  23. cell — a phone
  24. chip — for betting

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