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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. field — farmland
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. bat — the animal
  6. file — a tool
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. mark — a grade
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. mark — a trace
  11. pound — a weight
  12. chip — for betting
  13. field — for sport
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. craft — boats
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. craft — a skill
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. file — a document
  23. field — a subject
  24. file — a line of people

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