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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: row · cell · cold · land · net · mouse · chip · club

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. net — for catching
  3. club — for dancing
  4. land — ground
  5. chip — to eat
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. net — in sport
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. row — to paddle
  10. club — a group
  11. cell — a phone
  12. row — a line
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cold — an illness
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. cell — in biology
  19. land — a country
  20. chip — for betting
  21. cold — not warm
  22. net — after costs
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. land — to come down

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