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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: date · chip · game · capital · trunk · arm · pound · wind

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. wind — moving air
  4. game — a match
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. chip — for betting
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. capital — a city
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. date — the fruit
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. capital — money
  21. pound — a weight
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. wind — moving air
  24. game — wild animals

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