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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 124 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. land — ground
  3. land — to come down
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — for paper
  7. content — the amount
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. clip — a video
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. chip — for betting
  14. game — a match
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. land — a country
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. mine — for digging
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. snap — to click
  23. content — happy
  24. game — wild animals

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