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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. march — the month
  3. present — a gift
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. scale — in music
  6. march — music
  7. chip — for betting
  8. chip — to eat
  9. stock — goods
  10. scale — size or range
  11. file — a line of people
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. hand — in cards
  15. present — there
  16. stock — shares
  17. file — a document
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. march — the month
  21. mine — for digging
  22. present — the time now
  23. file — a tool
  24. hand — part of the body

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