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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. file — a line of people
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. file — a document
  6. cold — not warm
  7. stock — goods
  8. race — the arms race
  9. branch — a division
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. file — a tool
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. chip — for betting
  17. stock — shares
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. race — humankind
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. mine — for digging
  24. race — a contest

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