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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 · coach · nail · chip · clip · kid · file · club

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. clip — to cut
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. club — a group
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. chip — for betting
  7. clip — for paper
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. kid — to tease
  10. clip — a video
  11. file — a document
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. kid — child
  14. file — a line of people
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. row — a line
  17. club — for dancing
  18. club — for golf
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. file — a tool
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. row — to paddle

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