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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 water is too ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spring — the season
  4. spring — of water
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. spell — letters
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. rest — a break
  9. net — in sport
  10. rest — what's left
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. net — for catching
  14. rush — hurry
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spell — magic
  18. net — after costs
  19. rest — what's left
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spell — a short time
  22. game — a match
  23. chip — to eat
  24. game — wild animals

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