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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. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. kid — child
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. root — the cause
  6. kid — to tease
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. branch — a division
  9. file — a tool
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. current — electric
  12. current — happening now
  13. current — of water
  14. root — of a word
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. chip — to eat
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. root — of a plant
  20. file — a line of people
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. chip — for betting
  23. file — a document
  24. patient — a sick person

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