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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. chip — to eat
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. spell — letters
  5. fall — the season
  6. game — wild animals
  7. mate — a friend
  8. file — a tool
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. mine — for digging
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. spell — a short time
  17. chip — for betting
  18. spell — magic
  19. fall — to drop
  20. game — a match
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a document
  23. mate — to breed
  24. mate — a partner

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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