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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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Word bank
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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: net · degree · chest · chip · mine · charge · lash · content

  1. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — a whip stroke
  2. content — the amount
  3. degree — an amount
  4. chest — of your body
  5. degree — from a university
  6. net — in sport
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. net — for catching
  9. content — happy
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. chest — of your body
  15. charge — a price
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. chest — a box
  18. degree — temperature
  19. chip — for betting
  20. charge — electricity
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. chip — to eat
  23. net — after costs
  24. charge — in control

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