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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. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  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 — in a computer
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. cold — not warm
  4. game — a match
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. kid — child
  7. game — wild animals
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. kid — to tease
  10. chip — to eat
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. capital — money
  14. hand — in cards
  15. net — for catching
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. net — after costs
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. capital — a city
  21. cold — an illness
  22. hand — help
  23. net — in sport
  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