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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 120 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. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. cold — an illness
  4. clip — a video
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. spell — letters
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. bat — the animal
  9. cue — a signal
  10. spell — a short time
  11. cue — for pool
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cue — a hint
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. chip — to eat
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. branch — a division
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. chip — for betting
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spell — magic

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