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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. chip — to eat
  5. row — a line
  6. roll — a cake
  7. chest — a box
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chip — for betting
  11. tube — a container
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. bat — the animal
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. chest — of your body
  16. tube — the underground
  17. ground — a position
  18. ground — the earth
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. row — to paddle
  21. roll — a list
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. roll — on a roll

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