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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 116 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. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. court — for sport
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. net — after costs
  5. file — a document
  6. key — in music
  7. kick — in football
  8. clip — to cut
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. clip — for paper
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. file — a line of people
  14. kid — to tease
  15. court — of law
  16. net — in sport
  17. key — for a lock
  18. key — the most important part
  19. chip — to eat
  20. clip — a video
  21. court — of a king
  22. file — a tool
  23. kid — child
  24. net — for catching

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