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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. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. club — a group
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cell — in biology
  6. club — for golf
  7. court — for sport
  8. chest — of your body
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. club — for dancing
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. chip — to eat
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cell — a phone
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. chest — a box
  20. degree — from a university
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — of law

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