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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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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: present · shower · clip · file · chip · nail · cold · mark

  1. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. chip — for betting
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. file — a document
  6. present — there
  7. shower — to wash
  8. mark — a trace
  9. chip — to eat
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cold — not warm
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cold — an illness
  15. present — the time now
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. file — a tool
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. file — a line of people
  21. shower — rain
  22. clip — a video
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. present — a gift

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