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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: chip · arm · court · ground · tear · net · file · charge

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. charge — electricity
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. net — in sport
  6. charge — in control
  7. court — of law
  8. chip — for betting
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. ground — crushed
  11. court — of a king
  12. file — a document
  13. net — for catching
  14. tear — from crying
  15. net — after costs
  16. tear — to rip
  17. file — a line of people
  18. ground — the earth
  19. tear — from crying
  20. court — for sport
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. file — a tool
  23. chip — to eat
  24. ground — a position

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