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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
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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: track · chip · shower · land · wound · cell · present · hand

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cell — a phone
  4. land — to come down
  5. hand — help
  6. wound — an injury
  7. track — to keep track
  8. shower — to wash
  9. chip — for betting
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — rain
  12. present — a gift
  13. hand — in cards
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. track — a path
  17. chip — to eat
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. land — a country
  20. cell — in biology
  21. track — a song
  22. present — the time now
  23. present — there
  24. wound — an injury

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