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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. What do you think of the new ________________?
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. net — for catching
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. prune — to trim
  6. land — ground
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bat — the animal
  9. file — a line of people
  10. file — a tool
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. chip — for betting
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. net — in sport
  17. prune — to trim
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. file — a document
  22. net — after costs
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — a country

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