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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 124 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. chip — to eat
  3. chip — for betting
  4. hand — in cards
  5. face — to confront
  6. stock — goods
  7. hand — help
  8. face — to point toward
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stock — shares
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. drill — a practice
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. cold — an illness
  16. file — a document
  17. drill — the tool
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. file — a line of people
  20. face — part of the head
  21. file — a tool
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. drill — army training

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