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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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468
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: racket · chest · file · clip · chip · current · capital · track

  1. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. chip — to eat
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. file — a tool
  5. current — happening now
  6. clip — for paper
  7. track — a path
  8. track — to keep track
  9. chest — of your body
  10. clip — to cut
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a city
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — a video
  18. file — a document
  19. track — a song
  20. current — electric
  21. chip — for betting
  22. current — of water
  23. chest — a box
  24. file — a line of people

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