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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: cell · file · chip · shower · straw · roll · rest · season

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. roll — a cake
  3. shower — to wash
  4. file — a document
  5. chip — for betting
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. shower — rain
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. cell — in biology
  11. file — a tool
  12. rest — what's left
  13. roll — a list
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. season — in sport
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. season — of the year
  18. rest — what's left
  19. file — a line of people
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. cell — a phone
  22. rest — a break
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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