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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. net — after costs
  3. land — a country
  4. row — to paddle
  5. land — to come down
  6. net — in sport
  7. race — a contest
  8. row — a line
  9. band — a ring
  10. race — humankind
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. net — for catching
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. band — a music group
  17. chip — for betting
  18. chip — to eat
  19. kid — child
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. race — the arms race
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. land — ground
  24. pound — a weight

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