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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. pit — in a race
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cell — a phone
  5. clip — a video
  6. chip — for betting
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. clip — for paper
  9. ball — a great time
  10. ball — a dance
  11. cell — in biology
  12. chip — to eat
  13. mark — a trace
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. mark — a grade
  16. pit — a hole
  17. kid — child
  18. kid — to tease
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bat — the animal
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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