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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. pop — to visit
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. clip — a video
  6. ground — the earth
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — the season
  9. file — a document
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. chip — for betting
  12. pop — soda
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. ground — crushed
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. ground — a position
  17. file — a tool
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pop — music
  20. spring — a coil
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. file — a line of people
  23. clip — to cut
  24. branch — a division

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