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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. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. chip — to eat
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. vault — a safe
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. clip — a video
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pitch — completely
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a match
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. mine — for digging
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. perch — the fish
  23. chip — for betting
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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