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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. mine — for digging
  3. chip — to eat
  4. field — for sport
  5. pass — a permit
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. kid — child
  8. sharp — clever
  9. race — a contest
  10. chip — for betting
  11. plane — a tool
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. field — a subject
  15. race — humankind
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. field — farmland
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. race — the arms race
  24. plane — in geometry

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