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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. land — a country
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. chip — to eat
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. land — to come down
  7. bank — for money
  8. net — in sport
  9. race — humankind
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. bank — of a river
  13. land — ground
  14. net — after costs
  15. bank — for money
  16. game — wild animals
  17. race — a contest
  18. game — a match
  19. net — for catching
  20. chip — for betting
  21. cell — in biology
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. race — the arms race
  24. cell — a phone

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