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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've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with 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. trunk — of a car
  2. chip — to eat
  3. wax — to grow
  4. kid — child
  5. chip — for betting
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. file — a document
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. spell — letters
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. race — the arms race
  13. spell — magic
  14. race — a contest
  15. rush — hurry
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. kid — to tease
  18. race — humankind
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. spell — a short time
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. file — a tool
  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