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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 120 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: scale · chip · capital · hand · file · mine · spell · saw

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. hand — in cards
  3. chip — to eat
  4. capital — money
  5. scale — in music
  6. capital — a city
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. saw — the tool
  9. spell — a short time
  10. mine — for digging
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a document
  13. hand — help
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. saw — the tool
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. chip — for betting
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. file — a tool
  20. spell — letters
  21. spell — magic
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. mine — belonging to me

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