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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 · chest · pitcher · rush · chip · nail · last · saw

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. last — finally
  4. saw — the tool
  5. last — final
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chest — a box
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. spell — a short time
  13. spell — magic
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. spell — letters
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. last — to go on
  18. chip — for betting
  19. chip — to eat
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. chest — of your body
  23. saw — the tool
  24. chip — in a computer

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