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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 120 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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. bat — the animal
  3. file — a tool
  4. object — a thing
  5. land — ground
  6. object — an aim
  7. last — to go on
  8. file — a line of people
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. chip — to eat
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. chip — for betting
  14. last — finally
  15. saw — the tool
  16. pound — a weight
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. saw — the tool
  19. file — a document
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. land — a country
  23. last — final
  24. land — to come down

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