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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. bass — low music
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. scale — in music
  5. file — a document
  6. scale — size or range
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. chip — for betting
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. bass — the fish
  15. chip — to eat
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. file — a line of people
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. sharp — clever
  20. cold — not warm
  21. file — a tool
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. cold — an illness

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