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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: pound · wind · chip · chair · hand · current · cell · field

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. current — electric
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. current — of water
  5. field — a subject
  6. hand — in cards
  7. hand — help
  8. cell — a phone
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. current — happening now
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. field — for sport
  14. wind — moving air
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. chair — a leader
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cell — in biology
  20. pound — for dogs
  21. chip — for betting
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. pound — a weight
  24. field — farmland

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