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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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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. field — farmland
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. field — for sport
  5. drill — a practice
  6. kid — child
  7. land — to come down
  8. court — for sport
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. court — of law
  11. drill — the tool
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. dip — to sink
  15. field — a subject
  16. court — of a king
  17. land — ground
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — the animal
  20. land — a country
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. drill — army training
  23. chip — to eat
  24. kid — to tease

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