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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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. We're on a ________________ here.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  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. roll — a list
  2. chip — to eat
  3. game — a match
  4. land — ground
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. land — a country
  7. roll — on a roll
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. bat — the animal
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. bass — the fish
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. bass — low music
  15. kid — child
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kid — to tease
  18. land — to come down
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. roll — a cake
  23. game — wild animals
  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