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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chip — for betting
  3. last — final
  4. last — finally
  5. squash — the sport
  6. spring — of water
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. last — to go on
  9. shower — rain
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — to crush
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. mine — for digging
  18. rule — a law
  19. rule — government
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. spring — the season
  22. spring — a coil
  23. chip — to eat
  24. mine — an explosive

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