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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: land · pitcher · trunk · chip · bat · spell · squash · file

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. spell — magic
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. squash — the sport
  5. chip — to eat
  6. file — a tool
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. file — a document
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. land — ground
  13. spell — letters
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. spell — a short time
  16. file — a line of people
  17. chip — for betting
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. land — a country
  20. bat — the animal
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. squash — to crush
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. trunk — of a tree

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