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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. fall — the season
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. chip — to eat
  12. file — a document
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. snap — to click
  15. file — a line of people
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. file — a tool
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cold — an illness
  20. fall — to drop
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. fall — to drop
  24. chip — for betting

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