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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 124 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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wound — an injury
  5. row — a line
  6. row — to paddle
  7. chip — for betting
  8. file — a document
  9. clip — a video
  10. squash — the sport
  11. land — a country
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. file — a tool
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. wound — an injury
  16. chip — to eat
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. file — a line of people
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — for sport
  21. clip — to cut
  22. field — farmland
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — ground

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