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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 116 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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Word bank
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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. file — a tool
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. chip — to eat
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. pound — a weight
  7. file — a document
  8. capital — a city
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. chip — for betting
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. kid — child
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. snap — to click
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. hand — in cards
  19. file — a line of people
  20. capital — money
  21. kid — to tease
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. pound — for dogs

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