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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. race — a contest
  3. land — a country
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. mate — to breed
  6. chip — to eat
  7. land — to come down
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — the arms race
  10. hand — help
  11. staff — employees
  12. field — for sport
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. field — farmland
  16. hand — in cards
  17. land — ground
  18. staff — a stick
  19. mate — a partner
  20. field — a subject
  21. staff — employees
  22. mate — a friend
  23. race — humankind
  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