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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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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: charge · mark · cold · clip · drill · chest · cell · chip

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. cell — a phone
  3. cell — in biology
  4. mark — a trace
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. charge — electricity
  7. clip — to cut
  8. chest — a box
  9. chip — for betting
  10. cold — an illness
  11. drill — a practice
  12. mark — a grade
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. clip — for paper
  16. charge — a price
  17. cold — not warm
  18. drill — army training
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. chip — to eat
  22. clip — a video
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. charge — in control

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