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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 116 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: cold · net · bat · chip · race · bulb · clip · object

  1. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. object — a thing
  2. race — humankind
  3. bulb — for light
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. race — a contest
  6. cold — an illness
  7. object — to protest
  8. clip — a video
  9. race — the arms race
  10. net — after costs
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. object — an aim
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. clip — for paper
  19. net — for catching
  20. bulb — for light
  21. chip — to eat
  22. chip — for betting
  23. net — in sport
  24. clip — to cut

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