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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. tear — to rip
  4. chip — to eat
  5. chip — for betting
  6. craft — boats
  7. net — in sport
  8. file — a line of people
  9. degree — an amount
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. tear — from crying
  12. craft — a skill
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. degree — from a university
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. net — after costs
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a tool
  20. bat — the animal
  21. degree — temperature
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. net — for catching

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