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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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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: spell · chip · face · bat · hand · craft · file · wound

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. file — a tool
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. chip — for betting
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bat — the animal
  9. craft — a skill
  10. face — to confront
  11. spell — a short time
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. face — part of the head
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a document
  16. hand — help
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. wound — an injury
  19. hand — in cards
  20. chip — to eat
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spell — letters
  23. face — to point toward
  24. spell — magic

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