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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. wake — a trail
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. land — ground
  5. chip — to eat
  6. chip — for betting
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pop — music
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pop — soda
  15. land — a country
  16. fall — to drop
  17. hand — help
  18. net — in sport
  19. pop — to visit
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. cold — an illness
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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