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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.

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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 · chip · kid · race · rule · chair · snap · bat

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. chair — a leader
  5. rule — government
  6. chip — for betting
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. kid — to tease
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. cell — a phone
  11. rule — a law
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. snap — to click
  14. chip — to eat
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. race — a contest
  17. cell — in biology
  18. race — humankind
  19. race — the arms race
  20. kid — child
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. bat — the animal

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