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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. tear — to rip
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. present — the time now
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. sharp — clever
  9. field — farmland
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. cell — a phone
  15. mark — a trace
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. chip — for betting
  18. present — a gift
  19. present — there
  20. field — a subject
  21. field — for sport
  22. mark — a grade
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chip — in a computer

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