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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. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. hand — help
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. chip — for betting
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. row — a line
  10. net — in sport
  11. chip — to eat
  12. swing — to play on
  13. hand — in cards
  14. cold — an illness
  15. deal — to handle
  16. swing — in golf
  17. fork — in a road
  18. net — for catching
  19. net — after costs
  20. row — to paddle
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. cold — not warm

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