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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. mug — a face
  3. rash — a series
  4. mug — to rob
  5. hand — in cards
  6. fork — in a road
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. field — for sport
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. hand — help
  11. wake — a trail
  12. rash — hasty
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. field — a subject
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. chip — for betting
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. file — a line of people
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. file — a tool
  21. mug — a cup
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. field — farmland
  24. file — a document

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