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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. march — the month
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — in cards
  5. cold — not warm
  6. last — finally
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. last — to go on
  9. bark — to shout
  10. hand — help
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. rush — hurry
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. cold — an illness
  15. last — final
  16. march — music
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — crushed
  19. march — the month
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. chip — for betting
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. ground — a position

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