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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: court · root · chip · present · spring · lash · cold · file

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  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. chip — to eat
  2. cold — not warm
  3. court — of law
  4. file — a line of people
  5. present — the time now
  6. spring — a coil
  7. court — of a king
  8. court — for sport
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. file — a document
  11. chip — for betting
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. root — the cause
  15. spring — the season
  16. present — there
  17. cold — an illness
  18. root — of a plant
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. root — of a word
  21. file — a tool
  22. spring — of water
  23. present — a gift
  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