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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fork · cap · roll · chip · bat · chest

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. cap — a lid
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. roll — a cake
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. fork — in a road
  11. chip — for betting
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. cap — a hat
  16. chest — a box
  17. cap — of ice
  18. chip — to eat

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