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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I can't ________________ this cold.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. land — to come down
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. stand — to bear
  9. land — a country
  10. land — ground
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. pit — in a race
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chip — for betting
  15. net — for catching
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. kid — child
  18. bat — the animal
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. pit — a hole
  21. net — after costs
  22. net — in sport
  23. chip — to eat
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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