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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. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. key — the most important part
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — a match
  7. cold — not warm
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. game — wild animals
  12. chip — for betting
  13. spell — letters
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. branch — a division
  16. spell — a short time
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. key — for a lock
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. key — in music
  22. pitch — completely
  23. spell — magic
  24. straw — a straw man

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